Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay is the capital city of the state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city of India, with an estimated population of about 13 million. Mumbai is located on Salsette Island, off the west coast of Maharshtra. Along with the neighboring suburbs, it forms the worlds fifth most populous metropolitan area with a population of about 20 million.

The appellation Mumbai is an eponym, etymologically derived from Mumba or Maha Amba - the name of the hindu goddess Mumbadevi, and Aai - meaning mother in Marathi. In 16^th century, the Portuguese named the area Bom Bahia (Good Bay) later corrupted to Bombaim, by which it is still known in Portuguese. After the British gained possession, it was anglicized to Bambay, although it was known as Mumbai to Marathi and Gujarati public and as Bambai to Hindi belt. The name was officially changed to Mumbai in 1995, but the former name is still used by many of the city's inhabitants and famous institutions. 

The climate of the city, being the tropical zone, and near the Arabian sea, may be broadly classified in to two main seasons - the humid season, and the dry season. The humid season between March and October, is characterized by high humidity and temperatures of over 30 ⁰C (86 ⁰F). The monsoon rains lash the city between June to September, and supply most of the city's annual rainfall of 2200 mm. The dry season, between November and February, is characterized by moderate levels of humidity and warm to cool weather. Annual temperatures range from an high of 38 ⁰C in summer to 11 ⁰C in winter (around January).

Mumbai is the commercial capital of India, and houses important financial institutions like the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and corporate headquarters of many Indian companies. Mumbai has attracted migrants from all over the India because of the immense business opportunities, and the relatively high standers of living, making the city a potpourri of various communities and cultures.

Mumbai contributes 10% of all the factory employment, 40% of the total income tax collection, 60% of all custom duty collections, 20% of the central excise tax collection, 40% of India's foreign trade and Rs 40 billion in corporate taxes.

The urban transport system of Mumbai comprises of Suburban railways and BEST buses, together forming the life line of the city. The suburban railway system of Mumbai is one of the most complex and intensively utilized public transport systems in the world. Spread over 303 route kilometers, the suburban services are run by electric multiple units (EMU's). 184 rakes of 9 car and 12 car composition are utilized to run 2067 train services, which carry 6.1 million passengers every day.

The BEST (Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport) runs a total of 3391 buses ferrying 4.5 million passengers over 340 routes, and has a work force of 38,000 employees. Mumbai is one of the few cities in the world having a fleet of double-decker buses, which ply on selected routes.

Cinema is India's great social leveler: from the richest right down to the shoeshine boy, everyone loves a good film. The city is home to India's Film and Television industry known as Bollywood. Bollywood is the largest movie industry of the world churning out more than nine hundred films every year, mostly racy potboilers or mushy romances filled with songs, dance, violence and melodrama. A typical Bollywood movie has Heroes driving around in flashy cars, oomphy actresses cavort in itsy bitsy mini skirts and the poor guy always succeeds against the rich villain. But Bollywood is not only about commercial cinema. It also nurtures the highly acclaimed and sensitive breed of Indian cinema known as Parallel cinema. Made for the countries cognoscenti, so called "art films" regularly win at Cannes and other prestigious film festivals.