Why do people say that India is cheap when it isn't?

为什么人们说印度物价便宜，但实际并不便宜？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Laxmi Jayanti

India is always cheaper than any other European countries or USA.

We were group of 30 professionals. Almost 2/3rds are in USA, we few are here.

USA guys were earning in lacs ( in INR) and we were earning like peanuts. We felt, as it was a mistake to choose to live in India.

印度的物价一直都比其他欧洲国家和美国便宜。

我们是一个30名专业人士组成的团队，团队成员中几乎三分之二在美国，我们几个在印度。

美国人赚的是数十万卢比，而我们赚的只有花生米那么点。我们深深觉得在印度生活是一个错误。

Anyway, life goes on. After Facebook and what's up, we again had grand reunion after 20 yrs. We all were in a resort for 3 days with families. After dance, excitement, exchange of gifts, etc., all had enough time to talk on all issues of life, from politics, movies, kids, schools, financial, family and so on.

In discussion, we all realized that we all enjoy same level of luxurious life. Almost same.

They may have better cars but as per Indian scenario, we have professional drivers here. They have better Houses and we have better caretakers at home (maids and cooks). In fact, we, in India, have less physical work than friends in USA have.

不管怎样，生活还要继续。我们在20年后再次举行了盛大的聚会。我们和家人一起去度假胜地呆了三天。在走完跳舞、兴奋、交换礼物等流程之后，所有人都终于有时间坐下来聊聊生活中的大事小情，从政治、电影、子女、学校、财务、家人等等。

我们在聊天中发现我们都过着同样的生活水平。几乎分毫不差。

他们可能拥有更好的车，但我们在印度有专门的司机。他们拥有更漂亮的房子，但我们家里有更好的女佣和厨师。事实上，我们印度人的体力劳动比美国的朋友要少。

Everything here is better accessible than in USA. They have to pay more for all household expenses. Our light bills, phone bills, food bills, eating out, public transportation, almost everything is at half rate.

Lately, when we all discussed about current earning status. Surprisingly, we, now, have almost same figures.

After this weekend, our feeling of "Left out" changed. We are now more confident and contended. Relaxed.

印度的一切都比美国更接地气。美国人的家庭开支更高。印度人的电费、电话费、食杂费、外出就餐、公共交通，几乎所有的东西都只要半价。

最后，当我们讨论起当前的收入状况时，我们惊奇地发现我们的收入几乎持平。

这个周末过后，我们不在有“被遗忘”的感觉了。我们现在更有信心，更有斗志。

Dr. Balaji Viswanathan

A few years ago, I moved from Seattle to Chennai & Mumbai for a couple of years. I didn't find Mumbai any more expensive than Seattle [my household expenses became one-fifth], and here are some of my perspectives.

There are two things to be understood here:

几年前，我从西雅图搬到金奈和孟买住了几年。我并不觉得孟买的物价比西雅图高（我的家庭开支只要西雅图的五分之一了），以下是我的一些看法。

原因大概有以下两点：

US is designed for US-lifestyle. It is resource intensive and the only place it is cheap is the US itself. In general, it is very expensive to replicate lifestyle of one place onto an another place. Thus, an Indian family relying on labor-intensive lifestyle would find US very expensive, just as a US family relying on resource-intensive lifestyle would find India expensive.

The description has apples to oranges comparison when it comes to Seattle or Dallas vs Mumbai/Delhi. Seattle is a Tier-2 city and it could probably be a comparison to Coimbatore or Jaipur. Comparing it against Mumbai is not useful. The kind of art and cultural entertainment that Mumbai can offer is far superior to that of Seattle's.

美国就是为美国人的生活方式而设计的，美国是资源密集型的国家，唯一便宜的地方就是美国自己。一般来说，把一个地方的生活方式照搬到另一个地方，成本会非常昂贵。所以，一个依赖劳动密集型生活方式的印度家庭会发现美国的生活成本非常高，就像一个依赖资源密集型生活方式的美国家庭会发现印度的消费很高一样。

西雅图或达拉斯与孟买或德里就是完全不同的。西雅图是一个二线城市，对应的是哥印拜陀或斋浦尔。将西雅图和孟买进行比较没有用。孟买所能提供的艺术和文化娱乐远远优于西雅图。

In the US, the lifestyle is highly centered on car; excessive sized households are spaced far away, that makes walking & public transit impossible. In India, you could try to approxmate this by living far away from the cities - say live in Panchgani or Lonavala, use remote commuting options, visiting Mumbai/Pune office once a week. Or you could buy a 3 bedroom apartment in Andheri for Rs. 3 crores ($500k), which is still way cheaper than a similar quality apartment in Manhattan and use public transportation.

Again, if you try to get branded imported wear it is likely to be expensive in India. On the other hand, if you shift to local brand Kurta and Cotton shirts, you can utilize Indian prices.

在美国，人们的生活方式非常仰赖汽车；家家户户之间相隔很远，步行和公共交通十分不便。在印度，你也可以试着远离市区，比如住在潘吉加尼或洛纳瓦拉，用远程办公的方式，每周去一次孟买/浦那的办公室。或者你可以花3000万卢比(50万美元)在安德里买一套3卧室的公寓，这个价格比曼哈顿类似质量的公寓便宜得多，而且你可以使用公共交通工具。

同样，如果你想在印度买名牌进口服装，可能价格会很高。但如果你选购当地的Kurta和Cotton品牌，你就可以享受到印度的实惠价格了。

In general, shift a lot to labor from physical resources when you move to India. That brings up local employment and also helps you use the prices. Thus, instead of driving a BMW, you could buy an i-20 letting your chauffeur do the driving. Periodically take a vacation outside and then rent a BMW to get your driving kick. That will work out cheaper instead of buying a BMW and letting the poor vehicle take on Indian roads.

In summary, try not to replicate US lifestyle when you move abroad. It is not likely to be cheap. Adapt to local living.

一般而言，如果你搬到印度，可以把大量的物质资源转移到劳动力。这样可以增加当地的就业机会，也可以帮助你享受到优惠价格。所以，你别自己驾驶宝马了，买一辆i-20聘请司机为你驾驶吧。定期出门度假时再租一辆宝马体验驾驶乐趣。

总之，当你移居国外时，尽量不要照搬美国的生活方式，这样可能不太便宜，要适应当地的生活。

Swaroop Rao

Having lived in the US for 12 years and subsequently in India for 9 years, I would like to offer a few more perspectives in addition to the very good ones posted by so many people here on Quora.

我在美国生活了12年，随后又在印度生活了9年，很多Quora用户发表了非常好的观点，我也想补充一些看法。

The number of people saying that India is cheap has reduced significantly over the course of the last decade. There's a good reason for that. More and more, I hear people (Indian-origin, primarily) from the US saying that they feel poor when they start living in India. The only people who probably continue to think that India is somewhat cheap are the ones who visit India for 3-4 weeks and return; in other words, people who earn in the US and spend in India.

过去十年间说印度物价便宜的人少了很多，这是有原因的。我听到越来越多的美国人(主要是印度裔美国人)说，他们来印度生活时觉得自己很穷。认为印度物价不贵的唯一群体是那些只在印度呆了3-4周的人。换句话说，也就是那些在美国赚钱、来印度消费的人。

Another factor that affects people's outlook is the amount of time they've spent in the US and consequently the degree to which they have become accustomed to the quality of life in the US. For people who have left India and gone to the US less than 5-6 years ago, they might still a) miss India a little and b) not have been completely immersed into the American lifestyle. These people don't come with the same level of high expectations regarding the quality of life, so they are able to tolerate a lower quality of life at a lower cost. On the other hand, people who have lived in the US for a longer period of time and probably owned a house, and/or a BMW / Mercedes may feel aggrieved when they see what they get for the same amount of money in India.

影响人们看法的另一个因素是他们在美国呆了多久，他们对美国的生活水平适应得如何。那些从印度去往美国，时间不到5-6年的人，可能还是a)有点想念印度，b)还没有完全融入美国的生活方式。这些人对生活水平没有那么高的期望，所以他们可以花较少的钱忍受较低的生活质量。但那些在美国生活了很长一段时间，可能已经拥有一栋房子，和/或一辆宝马/奔驰轿车的人，他们可能会对在印度用同样的钱买到的东西感到委屈。

Having said the above, I must admit that we spent rather more freely in India than in the US. We went on fairly extravagant vacations at least once a year and never skimped on travel, eating or accommodation. I'm sure we wouldn't have dreamt of spending that kind of money if we had continued to live in the US, although it would have been a smaller percentage of our family income. So, for people of Indian origin, living in India, in a way, provides a degree of freedom that is difficult to achieve when one is living in the US.

话虽如此，我必须承认，我们在印度花钱比在美国更自由。我们每年都至少能进行一次相当奢华的度假，从不会在交通、饮食和住宿上抠抠搜搜。我敢肯定，如果我们继续留在美国，我们不敢花那么多钱，尽管这在我们的家庭收入中所占的比例会更小。所以，对于印度裔来说，在某种程度上，在印度生活可以享受到一种在美国很难实现的自由。

Rusheel Jain

It is possible to live happily with less money in India and thats why it is consider cheap to live in here.

Maid/cook/ironing guy/free home delivery/cheaper public transport fee etc is what one can get here.

Yes Delhi metro fare is way tooooo cheap than what one pays in Germany. Trains in US/Germany are way to expensive than India.

在印度，花更少的钱也能过得很开心，这就是为什么人们认为印度物价便宜的原因。

女佣、厨师、熨衣服的人、免费送货上门、公共交通费用低廉等等，你在印度都能享受到。

是的，德里的地铁票价比德国便宜多了。美国和德国的火车票都比印度贵多了。

Vegetables(dont ask for bio), are cheaper in India.

Food in normal reataurant is cheaper in India. Hotel rates (okish hotels) cost around 700-1700(depending upon city) in India. In Switzerland/Norway/Germany/(mostly also) USA you will be lucky to even get a bed in shared dormitory for 10-15€.

Local brands of cloths are cheaper and more easily available in India.

印度的蔬菜更便宜。

印度的普通餐馆更便宜，酒店房费约700-1700(不同城市价格不同)。在瑞士/挪威/德国/美国，如果你幸运的话可以在多人间宿舍花10-15欧元找到一个床位。

在印度，本土品牌的衣服比较便宜，也比较容易买到。

So where is actually India costlier to live? It is costly if one wants a big house with a big lawn in front(90s American Dream).

It is costly to buy Audi. But thing is, audi is not important to live. maruti alto can replace the basic functionality of audi as a car.

Buying CK/Armani/LV etc maybe be costlier here but local brands can replace the basic funcationality of these branded cloths.

Iphone is cheaper in USA but it is possible to make calls, visit internet etc on Micromax. And micromax phones are good enough.

那么印度哪些方面的生活成本更高呢？如果想要带大草坪的大房子，肯定很贵(这就是90年代的美国梦)。

买奥迪轿车很贵。不过事实是，奥迪不奥迪的并不重要。马鲁蒂奥拓也可以取代奥迪，反正基本功能都差不多。

在印度购买CK/Armani/LV等可能更贵，但本土品牌也足以取代这些品牌服装的基本功能。

在美国购买Iphone更便宜，但用Micromax也一样可以打电话、上网等。micromax手机就很不错了。

Education: want to send your kid in a school that offers all round personality development, it is expensive. So you find India expensive because you want things that are like ad-ons to the middle class Indians.

教育：如果想把孩子送到一个提供全面个性发展教育的学校，学费可不便宜。所以你会发现印度很贵，因为你想要的东西似乎都是印度中产阶级的那一套。

Danny Patrick

What nobody here mentioned is pollution. If you factor in the enormous cost of pollution (air, water, soil, noise!) both in terms of impact on health and efficiency of providing clean food and water, the costs are so much higher than in other countries. What about the huge inpact on the quality of life if kids can't grow up playing outside without damaging their lungs from pollution.

A big factor is also corruption. All these combined raise the cost to live (not the cost of living)

回帖里没有人提到污染。如果考虑到污染(空气、水、土壤、噪音)对健康的影响以及干净的食物和水源的供应效率，那么印度的生活成本要比其他国家高很多。如果孩子们因为污染有损肺部而不能在户外玩耍，那对生活质量的影响也太大了。

腐败也是一个重要因素。这些因素都增加了生存的成本(不是生活成本)。

Mrityunjay Upadhyay

It's about fundamental difference of life style. I am a vegetarian, I eat Jain food. It's something very cheap in India but it's uber luxury in The U.S.

One on one comparison is like Paying for water sports in desert because your other place has it easily available. It doesn't make much sense.

这是生活方式的根本差异。我是素食者，素食在印度非常便宜，但在美国却超级奢侈。

一对一的比较就像在沙漠里烧钱玩水上运动，因为这个项目在别的地方很容易玩到。这种比较没什么意义。