Nicknames of Indian Cities

Do you know which Indian city is called as City Beautiful? Why Jaipur is known as Pink City? Asansol, the city of black diamond is situated in which state? There are many cities in India which have some popular nicknames associated with them. These nicknames are associated with some Indian cities due to unique characteristics of those cities. These names are given due to various types of reasons like unique geographical position, natural beauty, natural formations like lakes, type of industry, large and quality production of particular agriculture products etc. For the general knowledge, we have compiled a list of cities in India which have some popular nicknames. The state corresponding to the city, reason behind that nickname and some other important information about the city is also given.

List of Indian City Nicknames

  • Detroit of India - Chennai city in Tamil Nadu state is often called as 'Detroit of India'. Detroit is a city in USA which is a major hub of automotive manufacturing industry and also known as Motor City. Chennai is called as Detroit of India as major automotive companies, both Indian and international, like Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, GM, Hyundai, BMW, Ford have huge manufacturing facilities in this city.
  • City Beautiful - Chandigarh is known with the nickname City Beautiful. This is a union territory and is also capital of two states Punjab and Haryana. It is a well planned city and aptly called as city beautiful due to wide roads having tress on both sides, roundabouts with decorative plants and fountains, many lush green parks and gardens. There are number of famous tourist places in the city like Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake, Rose Garden etc. which add to the beauty of the city.
  • Pink City - Jaipur, a popular tourist destination located in state of Rajastan is called as Pink City. During the Biritish rule in India, the whole city was pinted pink by its ruler Sawai Ram Singh to welcome Edward, Prince of Wales. The outer walls of the houses in the old parts of the city are still painted pink.
  • Golden City - Amritsar (Punjab) and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) are know as Golden City.
    Amritsar - It is named so as Golden Temple, a popular shrine of Sikh religion, is located in the city. The main building is covered with original gold plating, that's why the shirne is known as Golden Temple and the city is called as golden city.
    Jaisalmer - It is a world heritage site and a popular tourist attraction. The city is surrounded by vast desert covered with yellow sand. It also produces yellowish sandstone which is prominently used architecture of the city, giving a yellow-golden tinge to the city.

  • Manchester of India - There are many cities like Ahmedabad (Gujarat) and Ludhiana (Punjab) known with the nickname Manchester of India. Manchester is a town in Britain, which got developed as a major hub of industry (mainly textile industry) during the early days of industrial revolution in Europe in the early 19th century. As it was one of the first industrial towns, so Manchester became acronym for many major industrial towns in the world. Ludhiana is called as Manchester of India as it is a major industrial town having huge number of large and medium scale textile industries (like Vardhman group, Trident group), world famous hosiery industry, cycle parts industry and many other types of industrial units. Ahmedabad is also named so due to the similar reasons.
  • City of Lakes - The most prominent names in this list are Udaipur (Rajasthan), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) and Nainital (Uttarakhand). As clear from the nickname, these city have a large number of natural lakes.
  • Blue City - Jodhpur in Rajasthan is called as Blue City due to blue-painted houses in the old city. The old city encircles the famous Mehrangarh Fort, built on top of a hill. When seen from this fort, the blue colour painted on the houses is prominently visible, even today.
  • Religious Capital of India - Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh) is called as religious capital of India. The city is located on the banks of holy river Ganges and one of the seven holiest cities according to Hindu religion. Its famous for having a very large number of temples and attracts large number of Indian and foreign tourists, who come to this city to take a dip in holy river Ganga and to watch the thousands of sadhus performing aarti on the banks of holy river. Other common names of Varanasi are Benaras and Kashi.
    The city is also known with these nick names - Holy City, City of Temples, Spiritual Capital of India, Oldest Living City on Earth. Prime Minister of India, Sh. Narendra Modi is member of parliament (MP) from this lok sabha constituency.
  • White City - Udaipur in Rajasthan is called as White City. There are many beautiful palaces in this city which are made of white marble. Due to the large use of white marble and white paint in old architecture of the city, it is widely known with the name White City. The beautiful palaces, built by the erstwhile kings, are located inside the lakes or on the outskirts of the lakes and are now converted into grand hotels.
    The city is also known as City of Lakes due to presence of large number of natural lakes spread throughout the city.
  • City of Black Diamond - Asansol is West Bengal is known as city of black diamond. The city is rich in coal blocks and huge amount of coal is extracted from the coal mines situated in this city.
  • Diamond City of India - Surat in Gujarat is named as diamond city of India. The city has earned this name as a large number of diamond cutting and polishing companies operate from this city. The city is world famous for diamond processing industry.
  • City of Prime Ministers - Allahabad is called as City of Prime Ministers. This is because 7 prime ministers of India (Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Gulzarilal Nanda, Vishwanath Pratap Singh and Chandra Shekhar) have connections with this city. These leaders were either born in the city or studied at Allahabad University or elected as member of parliament from this lok sabha constituency.
    It is also named as Abode of God which is literal meaning of its name. The city is also called as Sangam City as holy rivers Ganges, Yamuna and mythical river Saraswati meet at this place.