For Bengaluru it was favourable weather and a growing pool of engineers graduating from the colleges surrounding it and favourable weather. For New York it was the proximity to the sea and the incoming stream of immigrants. The story of Gurgaon (now Gurugram) was similar. In some ways, the story began with the setting up of the industrial plant by Maruti Suzuki in the city. The recent announcement by the company to relocate out of Gurugram, therefore, presents a unique insight into the causes of rise and fall of cities.

Gurugram’s rise coincided with India’s larger move towards a more open economy from the mid-1980s, which later gathered momentum in early 1990s. A bulk of the city’s industrial base began developing before this period when Maruti Suzuki came into the picture in 1981—a time when Gurugram was just a village that was struggling to develop into a town. Again, multiple factors played a role in attracting the company to the region, but it became a magnet for other manufacturing firms to shift base as well.