Cities & Towns Maharashtra Mumbai City At a glance

Mumbai City Facts

Situated on a peninsula, halfway up the west coast of India, Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Of the four great cities of India, Mumbai is the most cosmopolitan, spearheading India's move into the 21st Century. The word Mumbai is derived from Mumbadevi, the patron goddess of the Koli fisher folk, the oldest inhabitants of Mumbai. Mumbai is also the country's financial powerhouse, the nation's industrial heartland, and its economic nerve centre. It is also the seat of the glamourous world of Bollywood Cinema. Dazzling shopping arcades, exciting sport activity, night clubs and discotheques, theatre and music, and interesting sightseeing-Mumbai offers the visitor a heady mix of all this and more.