In  deal with India’s Shreyans group,the Italian sportscar maker Ferrari plans to open its first dealership in New Delhi in the upcoming spring, and a second one is scheduled to open in Mumbai in the second half of 2011.

The company, a unit of Fiat, will sell its California, 458 Italia, 599 GTB Fiorani and FF luxury car models. Prices will start at $460,000.

Takeaway: The newly rich in India want boasting rights and now virtually every luxury car maker has some presence in India. I expect until sales to be very low, since many rough Indian roads don’t make it very practical to get your Ferrari onto the highway from your home. But I am sure that the Delhi and Mumbai police will have some surprises on the expressways after midnight .

North Delhi Power Ltd (NDPL), a joint venture of Tata Power with the Delhi government, has commissioned a solar power plant installed by Tata BP Solar.

It consists of more than 5,500 solar photovoltaic panels made of crystalline silicon. These absorb sunlight and convert it into electricity, to be directly fed into NDPL’s main grid line. NDPL has planned a three-fold initiative to promote solar power generation over the next three to four years. This includes setting up grid-interactive solar PV systems on the roofs of 56 of its grid substations in its network of North and Northwest Delhi, with a cumulative capacity of three megawatts.

Takeaway:   Solar and green opportunities exist across India today, joint sector opportunities such as this one involving the government should not be ignored

Swiss food and consumer goods giant Nestlé will open a research and development center in Manesar, Haryana, south of India’s capital city, where it will use local ingredients and spices, as well as low-cost Indian research and engineering to make products for India as well as other countries.

According to the New York Times, Nestlé will focus on making nutritionally enhanced foods for people with lower incomes, said Klaus Zimmermann, senior vice president and head of research and development. The $50 million facility will open by 2012.  Click here to see Nestle management on CNBC television talking about their plans.

According to the latest tally of India’s richest persons by Forbes Magazine, Mumbai (formerly Bombay) is home to 45 of the 100 most wealthy Indians, including Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India.  In my book I noted how almost 40 percent of India’s personal income taxes are collected in and around Mumbai.  These are  some of the many indicators why Mumbai is by far the most important business city in India.

Delhi/New Delhi are home to another 21 of the richest Indians.  Even though Forbes is now also published in India, its staff does not seem to understand that Delhi and New Delhi need to be grouped together (along with Faridabad, Gurgaon, Noida and Ghaziabad) as the National Capital Region for a meaningful number. Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) The former capital of colonial India, the city that was once India’s richest in terms of culture, economy, manufacturing and more has  a meager two residents among India’s rich:  Marwari businessmen Ram Prasad Goenka and Benu Gopal Bangur. Both were born to wealth which began in the jute business but has now diversified to many other areas.

Bangalore,  is home to nine of the super-wealthy including an incredible five from Infosys alone.  All five are part of the original founding team of seven: NR Narayana Murthy (CEO for a long time and now Chief Mentor),  “Kris” Gopalakrishnan,  Nandan Nilekani (now divides his time in Mumbai as head India’s most ambitious  IT project), K Dinesh and S.D  Shibulal who lived in Boston for some time.

Ahmedabad, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad each are home to 4-5 of the super wealthy.  A few live overseas primarily in London, Dubai or Singapore.  The list includes only Indian citizens so US-based billionaires such as Vinod Khosla are not on included.

According to Mercer two India cities are among the ten most expensive locations for expatriates. Remember, we are not talking about the average cost of living for local residents, or even the cost of living for upper income Indians.  Expatriates  from the West living in emerging economies typically choose premium rental housing in very expensive neighborhoods and are quite particular about features required by them even among those areas.

With that caveat, the city of Mumbai figured at Number 4 on the list and Delhi was #8 worldwide.  Moscow, Tokyo and HongKong were the most expensive locations for foreigners living in those cities.