A HIGH inflation rate may be hitting Indians hard but a global survey has ranked two Indian cities namely the financial hub Mumbai and the national capital New Delhi, respectively, among the four least expensive places across the world.

As per the worldwide "cost of living" survey by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Mumbai is the second least expensive city globally, while New Delhi is ranked fourth.

Karachi in Pakistan has been named as the cheapest destination globally, while Zurich has topped Tokyo to become the world's most expensive city, as surging currencies push up the cost of living in countries like Switzerland and Australia, Press Trust of India (PTI) quoted a survey.

Five Australian cities made it into the top 20, led by Sydney and Melbourne in seventh and eighth places, according to The Worldwide Cost of Living survey, carried out by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

"Exchange rates have been the greatest influence for the Australian cost of living, with the Australian dollar seeing its value to the US dollar double in a decade," PTI quoted survey editor Jon Copestake as saying in a statement.

Canada's Vancouver overtook US cities to become the most expensive in North America, ranked 37th in the world. Los Angeles was the most expensive US city equal 42nd with Shanghai while New York came in 47th.

Bernama