Bombay, India serves as the country’s gateway to the world of international capitalism. The city is India’s economic and business center. Bombay’s elite conspicuously purchase Western luxury goods and participate in a Westernized global culture. The majority of Bombay residents struggle to survive, living in slums, suffering from poor utility services and a crumbling public transit system. As the gap grows between the very rich and the rest of Bombay society, so does popular discontent. Unless the poor derive benefit from the global free enterprise system, conditions in Bombay will continue to destabilize.
