Bengaluru has been declared as the best city on the government's Ease of Living Index 2020 that was released by Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday. Pune was ranked second followed by Ahmedabad at the third spot among 111 cities that figured in the list.

The minister announced the final rankings of the Ease of Living Index (EoLI) 2020, which evaluates the quality of life and the impact of various initiatives for urban development in an online event. The Municipal Performance Index (MPI) 2020 for various cities was also released on the occasion.

The rankings were announced for cities with a population of more than a million, and cities with less than a million people along with all the cities under the Smart Cities Program.

Chennai figured at the fourth spot, Surat was ranked fifth followed by, Navi Mumbai, Coimbatore, Vadodara, Indore, and Greater Mumbai in descending order. 

Shimla best among smaller cities

In the “Less than Million” category, Shimla was ranked the highest in ease of living, followed by Bhubaneshwar, Silvassa, Kakinada, Salem, Vellore, Gandhinagar, Gurugram, Davangere, and Tiruchirappalli.

Apart from the EoLI index, the assessment framework under MPI 2020 has classified municipalities based on their population- Million+ (municipalities having over a million population) and Less than Million Population. In the Million+ category, Indore has emerged as the highest ranked municipality, followed by Surat and Bhopal. In the Less than Million category, New Delhi Municipal Council has emerged as the leader, followed by Tirupati and Gandhinagar.

The MPI examined the sectoral performance of 111 municipalities (with Delhi being assessed separately for NDMC, and the three Municipal Corporations) across five verticals which comprise 20 sectors and 100 indicators in all totality. The five verticals under MPI are Services, Finance, Policy, Technology and Governance.