India’s inflation numbers may be brushing historic lows, but for the urban middle class, life in major cities is beginning to feel as costly as San Francisco or Dubai. According to investment banker Sarthak Ahuja, this gap between the data and daily life is only widening.

In a recent LinkedIn post, Ahuja argued that national inflation indicators no longer capture the reality of city living. He wrote that friends visiting from global hubs like San Francisco, Hong Kong, Dubai and Switzerland are shocked by the rising prices in Gurgaon .

“Whenever they visit India, they end up spending the same amount eating out, ordering in, or visiting salons,” he said in his post.

This disconnect comes even as India’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation for October 2025 sits at just 0.25 per cent

See Full Page