vik_c - 6:48 am on Aug 26, 2010 (gmt 0)

I have been living in Bangalore, India, for last 13 years, and I don't see major reasons not to like it # good infrastructure - Currently its a chaos, but huge investment is being made to improve it, specially road and rail network. Should be good in 2-3 years. # scenic beauty - Called a garden city and within 2-3 hours drive, there are many scenic places to visit. # low cost of living - Real estate is relatively costly, but you can rent a decent 3 bedroom apartment for $400. # pleasant weather (no extreme climates) - Bangalore scores the highest on this count. # low or average taxes - In recent years, tax rates have dropped. # fast internet access - Bandwidth options run up to 20mbps. # political stability (no dictators and preferably non-nuclear) - It is nuclear, but as someone said earlier, fearing that is like fearing asteroid strike. Stable democratic government. # easy entry for immigrants - Quite easy, except from a few countries # friendly people (no racism) - Ask for a route, more than one person will come forward to guide you. # a stable currency - Has been pretty stable. # little or no red tape - If the investment is high, bureaucrats and politicians will want a piece of action. For individual webmasters, things should be pretty simple. # business friendly atmosphere - Almost every multinational IT company has an office here. # access to free or low-cost healthcare - After the IT boom, it is the low cost and high quality healthcare services that is making headlines now. Mysore, which is just about 2-3 hours drive from Bangalore, is a good alternative, without the traffic and crowd. It is rated as the 2nd best city in India to live in.

Bangalore has poor infrastructure. Indian infrastructure projects invariably have time and cost over-runs. They're never built with foresight. By the time something is completed it's too small to meet requirements. Consider what the British built in India over a century ago..railways, water systems..everything meets requirements to this day with barely any upgrade(!). Indians are heavily taxed and cost of living in cities is very high when you consider purchasing power parity. Stable governments are rare. Red tape is an inseparable part of Indian business. Living permanently in India is impossible for a foreigner because India doesn't grant permanent residence. A lot of Indians *are* racist. Think caste politics, think obsession with fair skin. India doesn't have low cost health care. The ratio of doctors to population is abysmally low. Health care is inexpensive only for foreigners who bring dollars. There are long queues in government hospitals with a waiting period of months being the norm for surgeries.