Third, Mumbai needs more tertiary educational facilities, both inside the city and within easy reach. Education is one way to attract the talented as well as to endogenously generate new talent. Note, however, that a financial hub does not just require a plethora of finance institutes. A great “global city” is a good generalist rather than a specialist. We need to allow for everything from fashion design and art appreciation to medicine. Since it is not possible to predict the future course of innovation, this requires the deregulation of the education sector so that the supply-side can respond quickly to evolving requirements.

In short, making Mumbai a successful international financial system requires that we think about how to make it a vibrant and attractive city. ‘Attractiveness’ is not just about physical aesthetics but about the ‘soft’ factors that encourage the talented to converge and interact. Manhattan is grey and dreary but it is undoubtedly an exciting place. If India’s business and political elite want to Mumbai into a real global financial hub, they should worry more about building schools, hospitals and art galleries — the financial regulations will sort themselves out over time.

The re-development of the Parel mill lands was a golden opportunity to have created a vibrant and dynamic urban milieu in the heart of Mumbai. Unfortunately, the opportunity was lost and now we have yet another haphazard locality with few public spaces or amenities. Fortunately, in the not too distant future, we will probably have yet another opportunity when the port area on the eastern seaboard becomes available (as we have seen ships have little to do with being a shipping hub). An intelligent plan for this large space could go a long way to remake Mumbai as a competitive financial centre. An open public debate about this is urgently needed.

... contd.