Ankur Warikoo's old video on life in Mumbai versus Bangalore has gone viral following the big announcement that he is shutting down his courses business despite the venture generating over ₹100 crore in revenue and ₹25 crore in profits over the last 5 years. The video clip shared on Instagram on 26 December 2025 advises professionals to consider cost of living before moving to top tier cities.
The caption to the post states, “Living in Mumbai vs. living in Bangalore - how does it affect your savings?”
In the clip, the entrepreneur compares Mumbai and Bengaluru's lifestyle with same income. The 45-year-old, who commands a community of over 16 million followers across social platforms, highlights that the two cities dictate completely different lifestyles and financial realities for software engineers earning the same income.
Techies having ₹12 lakh annual package will have to pay around ₹35 thousand monthly rent to live in Mumbai while in Bengaluru, the similar level of housing needs can be met with ₹20 thousand monthly rent. Techies can afford a similar lifestyle in Mumbai and Bengaluru by spending ₹8 lakh in former and ₹6 lakh in the latter. Moving to savings, an individual will be able to save ₹4 lakh in the “City of Dreams" and the “IT hub of India."
Elaborating on his insightful analysis, Ankur Warikoo said, "The techie who choses Bengaluru over Mumbai will be able to make extra ₹2 lakh savings yearly. If this extra ₹2 lakh savings gives 12% returns per annum and grows by 5% every year then within 18 years, this can make a difference of ₹2 crore.”
While Mumbai is defined by exorbitant housing costs, Bengaluru is comparatively a cheaper alternative. Housing is slightly more affordable and spacious in Bengaluru as compared with Mumbai. Hence, Mumbai typically consumes a much larger chunk of a techie’s take-home salary on basic survival costs and housing, suggesting that Bengaluru is a better choice when observed in terms of wealth compounding effect.
Compounding ₹2 lakh yearly savings with 12% annual return and 5% step-up every year, it creates a corpus of nearly ₹2 crore within 18 years.
Ankur Warikoo on shutting down ₹100 crore business
The popular entrepreneur and content creator shared the announcement through a video message on X. He stated, “I am shutting down my courses business. After 5 years, 5 lakh students, and ₹100 crore in revenue, all profitable. Completely shutting it down,” he said in the video.
The description alongside the post read, “I am shutting down my 100 crores courses business. We’ve grown beyond what I could have imagined since we started in 2020. 5 lakh students. 100 crores in sales. 25 crores in profits. But it makes no sense to continue it.”
Warikoo further noted that he would share more details about the decision in another video scheduled for 16 May at 8:30 pm.
