Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40890-023-00189-4

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Exploring Business Networks Along the Mumbai–Ahmedabad

High‑Speed Rail Corridor: A Study on Identifying City Linkages
Shreyas Bharule1 · Tetsuo Kidokoro2 · Fumihiko Seta2

Received: 28 July 2022 / Accepted: 1 September 2023

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023

Abstract
The study aimed to explore the business networks along the Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail (MAHSR) corridor and
identify the linkages between the cities along its route. Using a network analysis technique, we map and examine the rela-
tionships and interdependencies among 297,000 firms in four cities along the MAHSR corridor. The analysis deduces three
distinct types of networks that exist among businesses along the MAHSR corridor. Our findings suggest that the MAHSR
project can potentially strengthen business networks and create new connections between cities, particularly in finance, trad-
ing, and business services. Our study contributes to the growing literature on polycentric megaregion. It provides insights
into the potential benefits and challenges of the MAHSR project for business networks and regional development in India.

Keywords Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail (MAHSR) · Business networks · Network analysis · Firms
Interdependencies · Business services · Polycentric megaregion

Introduction corridors often networked and connected by high-capacity,

During colonization in different parts of the world, indus-
trial and economic belts played a critical role in the later
economic development and growth [45, 62]. The industrial
and economic belts became hubs of economic activity, such
as trading and shipping activities, attracting investments,
and contributing significantly to the growth of the colonial
economy [13, 45, 62]. These regions were characterized by
the concentration of industries, markets, and labor and were
often connected by transportation networks such as railways,
ports, and roads [61]. With technological advancements, we
now observe that these regions have organized themselves
in a complex polycentric configuration that behaves as
* Shreyas Bharule
sbharule@arp.iitkgp.ac.in; shreyas.bharule@gmail.com
1 [36, 54]. These industries thrive in regions characterized by
Department of Architecture and Regional Planning,
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur,
West Bengal 721 302, India
2
International Development and Regional Planning Unit,
Department of Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering,
Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bldg 14,
Room 914, 7‑3‑1 Hongo, Bunkyo‑ku, Tokyo 113‑8656,
Japan
high-speed transportation networks [29, 40, 68].
In 2010, the Vision India Plan of the Ministry of Rail-
ways, India, envisioned to introduce high-speed Rail (HSR)
lines. The introduction of HSR systems is a crucial driver in
developing polycentric mega regions [42, 78]. A polycentric
megaregion is a geographical area that encompasses multi-
ple metropolitan areas, each with its own central business
district but with multiple centers of economic activity con-
nected by high-speed transportation systems [31, 34, 35].
Such regions are characterized by high interconnectivity
and integration, leading to increased economic opportuni-
ties and growth. Studies have shown that developing HSR
systems between metropolitan areas can lead to the forma-
tion of polycentric mega regions, enabling the movement of
people and goods across regions and creating new markets
and opportunities for growth [3, 16, 30, 37, 56].
The introduction of HSR can also facilitate the develop-
ment of knowledge-based industries and knowledge clusters
a high degree of connectivity and collaboration [30, 41, 77].
The Vision India plan to develop an HSR system can help
create the conditions for such clusters to emerge. In addition,
integrating knowledge clusters across metropolitan areas can
lead to increased innovation, as firms benefit from exchang-
ing knowledge and ideas [1, 22, 23]. Thus, introducing HSR

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systems can play a crucial role in promoting regional devel-
opment by connecting different economic centers and foster-
ing the growth of knowledge-based industries.
This study analyses the locations, distribution, and net-
work configurations of firms and industries located along
the MAHSR. We geocode the addresses of 297,000 firms
that are “active” in the region to identify and analyze their
locations and distribution along the region. Furthermore,
the email ID information was extracted from the dataset to
identify the linkages among the geocoded firms.
Given the historical context of the cities to be connected
by HSR in India, studying the existing links and networks
they form is crucial. This study explores identifying the
business linkages that exist along the proposed Mum-
bai–Ahmedabad HSR corridor. This study is organized as
follows. “Introduction” introduces the research “Literature
review”, which organizes the literature review to arrive at
the research questions. “Study region and data” describes
the history of the study region, and the data are used in our
analysis. “Method and analysis” elaborates the methodol-
ogy adopted to conduct the analysis. “Results” discusses the
findings and results of the analysis. The implications of this
study are summarized in “Implications: network form of the
MAHSR corridor”, followed by a discussion of the impli-
cations in “Discussion and conclusion”. Finally, “Future
research” outlines an overview for future research.
Literature Review
Reviewed literature explains that large-scale regional devel-
opment projects are proposed with two central ideas at their
core: economic development and balanced regional growth
[4, 12, 15, 58]. Peculiarities of scientific structures are both
a function of time and space. Spatial structures, in the same
way, will vary with changes in socioeconomic development,
technological development, cultural systems, and variations
in value systems spread over a geographic space [14, 15,
38, 50, 71].
Focusing on planning implication of economic geogra-
phy, Friedmann [25] clarifies that regional planning theory
has evolved as an aggregation of special theories in eco-
nomics and geography. Central place theory in geography
attempts to explain human settlements’ spatial arrangements
and distribution. Though the theory explains the relation-
ship between settlements of different sizes by analyzing the
population’s market relations, it remains at an urban scale
[26]. Thus, regional implication of emerging cities regions
must also be understood.
City regions are not morphological units, nor are they
administrative units, though administrative units must be
used to define them. At the same time, if defined in terms
of flow of people and information [9], city regions are
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Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2
functional urban regions (FURs) [32]. While mega-city
regions (MCR) are a new form of urban regions: a series of
anything between 10 and 50 cities and towns, physically sep-
arate but functionally networked and clustered around one
or more large central cities and drawing enormous economic
strength from a new functional division of labor [33–35].
Furthermore, improvised accessibility of both commu-
nication and physical infrastructure links between primary
cities, second-order cities, and towns could result in the for-
mation of an MCR. HSR is highly competitive with other
long-range modes such as airlines (up to 800 km range).
Therefore, being an infrastructure axis that stretches between
750 and 800 km, HSR could potentially aid the evolution of
a FUR into an MCR [11, 31, 35, 37, 47, 76].
However, constant ICT development and transportation
infrastructure improvement may lead to the expansion of
the central city beyond the city’s current boundaries in a
morphological or functional form. Hall and Pain [34] studied
eight European regions to define the MCR phenomenon.
Discussion on the characteristics of MCR indicates that
the formation of MCR is a long-term process of extensive
decentralization of activities from the first-order city and
re-concentration of activities in the subsequent cities within
the MCR [33, 37]. These re-concentrated activity clusters
organize themselves around large cities and are functionally
well-connected to the central city. For instance, however,
the clustering of activities is important for local access to
work, accommodation, or leisure. However, in addition to
the clustering, access to HSR services, a network of high-
ways, and ICT assists in gaining an economic advantage
despite the activity clusters being apart spatially [9, 10, 33,
68]. In all of the eight studied regions existed, a common
service sector that tends to cluster—advanced producer ser-
vices—set of firms and businesses that particularly operated
in management consulting, legal services, financial services,
accounting services, design advertisement and marketing,
R&D, ICT, and market research [34, 35, 37].
Besides, MCRs emphasize the interaction of business
activities, location, and accessibility to a transportation axis
connecting the “business clusters” or “nodes.” This indicates
a need to consider networks in the region where the HSR
is proposed. Opportunities for development around a new
network will concentrate on location with good accessibil-
ity to the new network and provide connectivity to other
networks [14, 71, 72].
Evidence through academic work emphasizes that inter-
city HSR investments or inter-region HSR investments cre-
ate regional imbalances [17, 19–21, 26–28, 59]. Studies
show that HSR investments where the city or region pairs
have different development levels may favor regions and cit-
ies already strong at the expense of weaker regions. Duran-
ton and Puga [18] provide evidence of the emergence of the
above trend in France. After the construction of the French
Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2
HSR, TGV, between Paris and Lyon, the TGV investment
led to the relocation of the business headquarters from Lyon
to Paris.
Focusing on regional impacts of HSR investments,
Puga [60] examined the trends in regional inequalities and
regional disparities in the EU. He noted that connectivity
augmentation between two regions of different development
levels enables less developed regions access to better mar-
kets of more developed regions and makes it easier for firms
in developed regions to supply more impoverished regions.
Such added advantages can directly harm the industrializa-
tion prospects of areas with lower development levels. Puga
concludes that while improvements in the inter-region may
harm rather than help peripheral regions, improvements
in intra-regional or local infrastructure appear to have no
negative impacts. Similarly, hub-and-spoke-type HSR net-
work systems appear to produce different effects with their
surroundings. In a multiple-spoke network, the spokes con-
nected to a single hub tend to promote agglomeration in the
hub.
Along a proposed corridor, cities with HSR stations may
gain some benefits, although the distribution of net impacts
and benefits needs detailed analysis. With this background,
we explore the study region—to identify the regional-level
structure formed by business networks along the MAHSR
corridor.
While the potential effects of HSR over-arch many facets,
they seem to have many overlaps. HSR can become a core
component for desired urban developments while fortifying
undesirable outcomes. Positive impacts will be realized if
interactions with other facets of planning and development
sensitive to the local urban context are maintained [7, 52,
63, 69, 70, 73–75]. For our purpose, we use firm-level data
in 20 sectors. For each firm, we focus on the network formed
by headquarter–branch relations to assess the city linkages
in the study region.
Contribution, Scope, and Limitations
The contribution of this paper is threefold. First, the paper
contributes to the growing literature on the emergence of
polycentric megaregion. In particular, the paper extends the
body of literature focusing on advanced producer services
(APS) and the impacts of HSR implementation in develop-
ing economies. Second, the paper presents a methodology to
identify networked firms in emerging economies like India.
Finally, in line with the first HSR in India, following a com-
parison of the different transport modes available along the
proposed MAHSR, we mainly focus on firm networks along
the region formed between the states of Maharashtra and
Gujarat in West Central India.
The scope of the paper was to examine the firm net-
works in the MAHSR region; as a result, the paper records
Page 3 of 20 2
an ex ante study on the status of firms and businesses along
the MAHSR corridor, prior to the implementation of the
MAHSR. The research limits its scopes to identification
of the firm’s location, distribution, and type of networks
that they form along the MAHSR corridor.
Study Region and Data
History of the Region
In India, the Bombay Presidency, a significant economic
activity center during the colonial period, was the admin-
istrative region of British India. The region was known
for its strategic location, making it an important trade and
commerce center. The region was one of important centers
of regional connectivity—the region had a vast coastline
supporting maritime trade while remaining well connected
with railways and roadways on the inland network within
the region. Bombay port was one of the busiest ports hubs
facilitating exchange of commodities, culture, and ideas,
along the then global trade routes.
This study focuses on the areas formerly under the
Bombay Presidency region in Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Given its colonial roots, this region’s earliest establish-
ments and ports were set up around the 1830s [43, 44],
and these establishments included manufacturing, educa-
tional institutions, administrative offices, and religious and
cultural centers. Along the coastline, Surat and Mumbai
served as major ports that supplied unprocessed commod-
ities to other colonies of the East India Company. This
region is also the location of one of the first interregional
railway companies in colonial India—Bombay, Baroda,
and Central India Railway Company (BB & CIR). The
railway company connected Bombay, an important port
city, to Vadodara, a cotton processing hub, via Surat, an
important port city of the time (BB & CI) [6, 67].
In 1855, the Empire started constructing railways con-
necting important cities and towns in the Bombay Presi-
dency (BB & CI) [6, 43, 44, 67]. The physical geography
of the region between the cities though leveled the rail
lines was fragmented due to large-span rivers. The plan
was to connect Bombay to Baroda via Surat and Baroda
to Ahmedabad. The BB & CIR line connecting Bombay
and Ahmedabad was opened in 1870 with one train ser-
vice in each direction [64, 67]. By 1914, the connection
between Bombay and Ahmedabad was seamless, con-
necting four cities of the present day, Mumbai (Bombay),
Surat, Vadodara (Baroda), and Ahmedabad (BB & CI) [6,
44, 67].
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MAHSR Region

High-speed rail has been a topic of discussion in India for

several years, with plans to develop a high-speed rail net-
work being proposed as early as 2009. The project aims to
connect major cities in India with trains that can travel up to
350 km/h, reducing travel times and increasing connectivity
between regions [49, 53]. The project has faced several chal-
lenges, including funding, land acquisition, and environmen-
tal concerns, but the Indian government remains committed
to its development.
Currently, the most advanced high-speed rail project
in India is the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail
(MAHSR) corridor, which is being developed with assis-
tance from the government of Japan. The project is esti-
mated to cost around USD 17 billion and is expected to be
completed by 2028 [2]. Once completed, the MAHSR cor-
ridor will connect the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad
with a 508-km-long high-speed rail line, reducing travel time
between the two cities from the current 7 to 2 h [49, 53].
The proposed MAHSR will link Gujarat, Maharashtra,
union territories of Dadra, Nagar Haveli, and Daman and
Diu in India. Figure 1 presents the various transport link-
ages that link the towns and cities in the MAHSR region.
Mumbai, Vadodara, Surat, and Ahmedabad are the closest
airports to the proposed HSR line alignment, though inter-
national flights are confined to Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
National Highways form the spine to connect towns to cities,
followed by state highways connecting the tier II cities with Fig. 1  Transportation linkages along Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-
other lower-order towns and villages. Speed Rail (source: author)
Within the region are three types of railways with mul-
tiple tracks and single-line tracks that are broad gauge
routes and form the first order of the regional rail network. collected from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, India
The third type is single tracks for mixed-use meter gauge [48], to conduct trend analysis. The establishment regis-
track routes and forms the second-order network, which is tration data range from the year 1890s to 2018. Since the
confined mainly to the district boundaries. The proposed range spans over 130 years, the range was divided into
MAHSR lies along National Highway-8 (NH-8) and the groups representing a decade each. Table 2 shows the 13
conventional railway line connecting Mumbai and Delhi. groups formed according to the year of establishment.
The time difference between the different routes is shown in Industrial classifications have long been used in India’s
Table 1. The MAHSR region comprises thirty-one admin- industrial census and surveys [24]. The first version of the
istrative districts in total. Nine were from Maharashtra, and National Industrial Classification (NIC) codes was intro-
twenty were from Gujarat. In addition, the union territories duced in 1962, containing 9 divisions issued by Central
of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman from the union ter- Statistical Organization [51]. With subsequent revision
ritory of Daman and Diu. Figure 2 shows the population and added industrial typologies, NIC-2008 codes distin-
density of the districts in the study region. guish economic activity (industries and commerce estab-
lishments) in 21 sections, which are further identified in 88
Data Description divisions, 283 groups, 403 classes, and 1304 subclasses of
economic activity. Of the 21 sections, this study adopts 20
Colonial history is the genesis of the formation of the sections, the sections considering the urban-level contribu-
study region. To check the concentration of firms and tion of industries related to “Electricity, gas, steam and air
manufacturing establishments, data from 415,000 firms conditioning supply” and “Water supply, sewerage, waste
established in Gujarat and Maharashtra and the union
territories of Daman and Dadra and Nagar Haveli were

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Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2 Page 5 of 20 2

Table 1  Time–distance by different routes between cities in the from Indian Railways website https://​www.​india​nrail.​gov.​in/, Flight
region (source: Authors compilation from Road time estimation: Time estimation: Shortest Flights between cities: Google flights:
Open Source Routing Machine (OSRM: https://​map.​proje​ct-​osrm.​ https://​www.​google.​com/​travel/​fligh​ts, and HSR time estimation:
org/), Rail time estimations: Fastest train between cities as found JICA Report, 2015)

Routes Road (NH-8) Rail Flight (direct only) HSR (proposed)

Distance Time (in h) Distance Time (in h) Distance Time (in h) Distance Time (non- Time
(in km) (in km) (in km) stop train) (each stop
train)

Vadodara–Ahmedabad 114 01:45 97 01:40 – – 103 00:30 00:36

Surat–Vadodara 130 03:00 130 01:40 – – 130 00:34 00:42
Surat–Ahmedabad 229 04:00 225 03:10 – – 235 01:00 01:28
Mumbai–Surat 278 04:45 230 03:00 231 00:50 265 00:58 01:32
Mumbai–Vadodara 473 05:45 392 04:40 360 01:20 395 01:32 02:14
Mumbai–Ahmedabad 526 09:30 462 06:20 441 01:10 508 02:00 02:50

the service sector. Table 3 describes the adopted classes

according to NIC-2008.

Method and Analysis

The study focuses on identifying firm networks along a HSR

Fig. 2  District-level population density along Mumbai–Ahmedabad
High-Speed Rail Alignment (source: author)
management and remediation activities” have been con-
solidated as “Electricity, Gas & Water companies” under
corridor, utilizing “Company Master Data” as the primary
data source. To analyze intercity networks and firm rela-
tionships, we employed open-source social network analysis
(SNA) tools, namely Gephi and NodeXL. These tools are
known for their effectiveness in visualizing and analyzing
large-scale and complex datasets.
Gephi, a widely recognized SNA tool, offered interac-
tive visualization capabilities, enabling the representation of
intricate networks and identification of key network compo-
nents such as central nodes and subgroups. Graphs presented
in this study are prepared on Gephi Network Analysis 0.9.2
[5]. However, NodeXL, an Excel add-in, provided conveni-
ence allowing direct import, analysis, and visualization of
network data within the Excel environment [5, 65].
The utilization of SNA tools facilitated the construction
of intercity network graphs based on the firm data extracted
from “Company Master Data.” The network graphs visu-
ally depicted the connections and interactions between
firms across different cities along the high-speed rail cor-
ridor. Moreover, the analysis using these tools enabled the
identification of network properties, including connectivity
levels, central actors, and potential clusters within the firm
networks.
Overall, the application of Gephi and NodeXL proved
instrumental in uncovering the economic interactions
and firm relationships facilitated by the high-speed rail
infrastructure. The research highlighted the significance
of these SNA tools in comprehending the dynamics of
intercity networks and offered valuable insights into the
economic implications of the high-speed rail corridor.

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 2 Page 6 of 20 Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2

Table 2  Groups of industries Group Decade of Private estab- Private single Public estab- During economic plan
according to the decade of the establishment lishments enterprises lishments (year/annual/rolling)
establishment (source: compiled
by author) Group 1 1891–1900 10 – 18 –
Group 2 1901–1910 7 – 24 –
Group 3 1911–1920 18 – 56 –
Group 4 1921–1930 54 – 60 –
Group 5 1931–1940 187 – 140 –
Group 6 1941–1950 850 – 293 –
Group 7 1951–1960 957 – 307 First (1951–1956)
Second (1956–1961)
Group 8 1961–1970 1966 – 413 Third (1961–1966)
Annual (1966–1969)
Fourth (1969–1974)
Group 9 1971–1980 6987 2 997 Fourth (1969–1974)
Fifth (1974–1979)
Rolling (1978–1980)
Group 10 1981–1990 26,055 1 3784 Sixth (1980–1985)
Seventh (1985–1990)
Group 11 1991–2000 57,430 8 8300 Eighth (1992–1997)
Ninth (1997–2002)
Group 12 2001–2010 86,725 10 5106 Ninth (1997–2002)
Tenth (2002–2007)
Eleventh (2007–2012)
Group 13 2011–2018 92,572 1702 2647 Eleventh (2007–2012)
Twelfth (2012–2017)
Niti Aayog

Table 3  Classification of Sector Industrial class (economic activity)

economic activities according to
NIC-2008 codes in India
Primary sector Agriculture and allied activities
Mining and quarrying
Manufacturing sector (secondary sector) Manufacturing (foodstuff)
Manufacturing (leather and products thereof)
Manufacturing (machinery and equipment)
Manufacturing (metals and chemicals, and products thereof)
Manufacturing (others)
Manufacturing (paper and paper products, publishing, print-
ing, and reproduction of recorded media)
Manufacturing (textiles)
Manufacturing (wood products)
Service sector (tertiary sector) Transport, storage, and communications
Real estate and renting
Construction
Electricity, gas, and water companies
Trading
Finance
Insurance
Business services
Community, personal, and social services
Others

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Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2
Open-source computer-aided social network analysis tools
such as Gephi and NodeXL were utilized to draw intercity
network graphs.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India,
provides the “Company Master Data” tables containing
information on all the listed and unlisted companies regis-
tered in India. The company master data tables were used to
explore the concentrations of business services in cities and
their network configurations. The data tables provide com-
plete details of registered businesses operational in a state
within India. In the context of this study, the data tables pro-
vide an essential link to establish and present inter-firm con-
nections among businesses along the region. Although each
of the enlisted firms and branch firms has a unique Company
Identification Number (CIN), firms with the same names
and registered on the same email addresses were extracted
to identify the network pattern of branch firms along the
MAHSR corridor.
Though telematics data were not collected for this
research, the company address available in the data tables
was used to geocode the firm in the two states of Gujarat and
Maharashtra. Later, addresses located in the union territories
of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli were also
geocoded to get the latitude/longitude data. The geocoding
process was completed using a Visual Basics (VB) code
script. The extracted geo-coordinates and email addresses
were used as a dataset to visualize the network of firms in
cities. The network patterns of firm networks and their loca-
tion within the two states were generated as a step followed
by extraction of the pattern of branch network along the
MAHSR.
Fig. 3  Methodological framework to map the firm networks
Page 7 of 20 2
A new dataset created after extracting relevant firm infor-
mation to analyze the classification of economic activities
also contained registered addresses and IDs of the firms. A
new dataset containing firm addresses and IDs was extracted
from a list of 297,000 firms using VBA tools. Figure 3 shows
the three-step methodology developed for data cleaning and
extracting the firm address, identifying and visualizing firm
networks, and analyzing the network to classify network
configurations within the region.
Results
The grouped data were first analyzed to compare public and
private establishments operating in the region (see Fig. 4).
Two findings of the trends analysis were as follows: (1) the
industries and commerce sector did not have a considerable
number of establishments but were concentrated on manu-
facturing and exports in colonial times. Furthermore, (2)
industrial establishments and commerce were concentrated
in today’s Maharashtra until the early 1950s. Though the first
5-year plan focused on agricultural growth, forming [39]
and focusing on industrialization during the second 5-year
plan resulted in the rise of establishment registrations from
1961 and onward [57]. With the government’s strategy for
persuading agricultural growth and wars with neighboring
countries and famines, the number of industries was still
low until the 1980s.
In 1980, the government’s sixth 5-year [57] plan shifted
focus to “industrial growth” and “modernization of technol-
ogy,” which was reflected in the rise of establishments in
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 2 Page 8 of 20
Fig. 4  Trends in public and private establishment in Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra from 1890 to 2018
Maharashtra and Gujarat. A stark difference was observed
in the number of public and private establishments in the
study region before the eight 5-year plan [57]. The national
economic reforms accelerated the private firms and indus-
tries’ growth in Gujarat and Maharashtra during 1981–2000
(Group 10 and Group 11, see Fig. 4). Public establishments
in the region also followed the growth trend. The introduc-
tion of FDI in Indian industries during the ninth 5-year plan
[48, 57] brought rapid growth in the private sector establish-
ment. In contrast, the public sector establishments started to
decline steadily (Group 11 and Group 12, see Fig. 4).
Figure 5 illustrates the classification of firms and indus-
tries established during the decadal period of the thirteen
groups formed in Table 2. Within the study region data, all
20 sections of economic activities show below 5000 estab-
lishments till the 1980s (see Fig. 4; Group 1–Group 10). As
explained earlier, the effects of the sixth 5-year plan 1981
onward absorbed establishments in “business services,”
“finance,” “trading,” “community, personal, and social Ser-
vices,” “construction,” and “manufacturing of metals and
chemicals.” “business service” and “trading” have increased
during each decadal group (see Fig. 5; Group 11–Group 13).
As observed in Fig. 5, the distribution of economic activ-
ity reveals a high number of public and private firms in busi-
ness services, trading, and finance. The registered firms were
sorted according to the states where they were established
and have registered addresses: Gujarat, Maharashtra, Daman
and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
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Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2
Of the 415,000 firms in the company dataset list, collec-
tively 118,000 firms reflected as “inactivate” and “strike-
off” were removed from the list. Upon removal, a list of
297,000 “active” firms was used to prepare a dataset for
further analysis, as shown in Table 4. Figure 6 shows the
city network formed among firms, as identified in Table 4.
The results show a high concentration in business services,
trading, and manufacturing of metals and chemical indus-
tries, followed by establishments registered as finance and
construction firms. Results in Fig. 6 are further analyzed to
obtain geolocation to find the firms’ locations within the four
administrative states.
The result of the mapping analysis brings forth three sig-
nificant findings:
• Geocoded firms are in the study region’s cities and other
cities in Gujarat and Maharashtra. They are also linked
with the union territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra
and Nagar Haveli (see Fig. 6).
• Firm pairs are located within cities and linked among
cities, with a headquarters firm in one city and a branch
firm in another.
• Paired firms are registered with the registration details of
corporate secretaries.
Figure 7 shows a classification of firms registered in each
state of the study region. Among these, 15,474 individual
firms form intercity firm pairs. Of 15,474, 11,352 firms are
Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2
Fig. 5  Classification of the number of firms registered in each state of the study region
in Mumbai, Surat, Vadodara, and Ahmedabad, which also
form an intracity and an inter-city network among the four
cities (see Fig. 8). Table 5 lists firms with intracity and inter-
city located in the four cities within the study region.
The methodology for mapping the city networks
reveals that cities in Maharashtra–Mumbai, Pune, Aurang-
abad, Nashik, and Nagpur are linked with cities in Guja-
rat–Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Gandhidham, and
Jamnagar. For our purpose, we only focus on Ahmedabad,
Vadodara, Surat, and Mumbai
Furthermore, we analyze to identify the combinations of
firm networks formed within the intracity networks. Fig-
ure 9 illustrates the three network patterns that emerge as the
social network of firms. The observed firm network typolo-
gies based on networked firms, as listed in Table 5, are as
follows:
• Type 1—Intra-Urban: Firm headquarters (HQs) with
branch offices (BOs), registered with corporate secretar-
ies (CSs) within the same city boundary (see Table 6).
• Type 2—Inter-Urban: Firm headquarters (HQs) reg-
istered with corporate secretaries’ branch offices (CS
(B)). Located within the same city and firms linked with
Page 9 of 20 2
manufacturing facilities registered in another city (see
Tables 7, 8).
• Type 3—Regional Offices: Firm headquarters (HQ) with
branch offices (B.O.1) or manufacturing facilities, usu-
ally located in another urban area. Moreover, individual
firms registered with the HQ working as back offices.
Intra-urban firm networks are highest in the case of Mum-
bai among all linked firms (see Table 6). Table 7 enumerates
all linkages that follow the type 2 and type 3 typology of
inter-firm linkages, while type 2 is the most common pattern
followed by private firms and public firms follow type 3.
Additionally, type 2 inter-urban networked firms are
linked through a network of corporate secretary branch net-
works; Table 8 shows the concentration of corporate secre-
taries in each city and their corresponding branch firms and
partners in other cities.
In India, company or corporate secretaries are placed at
the highest level of an organization’s hierarchy. A Compa-
nies Law passed in 2013 under the Companies Act 1956
transformed the role of corporate secretaries to corporate
governance professionals by recognizing them as “Key
13
 2 Page 10 of 20 Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2

Table 4  Class-wise classification of the number of firms’ registration in each state of the study region
Economic activity Dadra and Daman and Diu Gujarat Maharashtra Total
Nagar Haveli

Agriculture and allied activities 10 20 1868 3495 5393

Business services 50 47 17,527 53,598 71,222
Community, personal and social services 13 8 4671 12,627 17,319
Construction 70 8 8403 17,452 25,933
Electricity, gas, and water companies 5 20 1265 1648 2938
Finance 30 51 5258 18,703 24,042
Insurance – – 56 245 301
Manufacturing (food stuffs) 10 10 1910 3203 5133
Manufacturing (leather and products thereof) – 2 62 331 395
Manufacturing (machinery and equipment) 41 19 6732 10,198 16,990
Manufacturing (metals and chemicals, and products thereof) 83 75 11,186 17,256 28,600
Manufacturing (others) 12 10 1927 2806 4755
Manufacturing (paper and paper products, publishing, printing, 8 6 1087 2923 4024
and reproduction of recorded media)
Manufacturing (textiles) 75 11 6545 6658 13,289
Manufacturing (wood products) – – 275 290 565
Mining and quarrying 2 2 605 1240 1849
Others 28 32 321 11,098 11,479
Real estate and renting 10 4 1730 11,182 12,926
Trading 57 41 11,100 28,362 39,560
Transport, storage, and communications 9 5 2409 8564 10,987
Total 513 371 84,937 211,879 297,700

Managerial Persons in a Company” along with the chief
executive officer/managing director/manager, whole‐time
director, and chief financial officer. The law states that the
company secretary is responsible for the efficient adminis-
tration of a company, particularly for ensuring compliance
with statutory and regulatory requirements, and that deci-
sions of the board of directors are implemented. During
the analysis, it was found that, in large corporations, a
company secretary is a senior position in a private sector
company or public sector organization.
The accumulation of firms in Mumbai is the highest
compared with the other three cities in terms of the total
number of firms and the total number of headquarters
in the city. The classification of linked firms based on
economic activities shows a high concentration of busi-
ness services and trading activities in the four cities (see
Table 9). The distribution of firms in the region along the
MAHSR corridor with the classification of type economic
activities (see Table 6) reflects a sectoral specialization
accumulated in individual cities. The concentration of
firms in the four cities mapped on a kernel density map of
firms per km square reveals a hierarchical order of cities
in the region; Fig. 10 shows the hierarchical order of cities
formed by the agglomeration of interlinked firms.
The distribution of networked services along the
MAHSR corridor presents an accumulation of business
services, including trading and finance in Mumbai, manu-
facturing of metals, chemicals, and textiles in Surat, manu-
facturing of chemicals in Vadodara, and financial trad-
ing in Ahmedabad. In addition, the firms providing the
services mentioned above are also linked over the region
space through network typologies described in Fig. 9.
The four cities, Mumbai, Surat, Vadodara, and
Ahmedabad, with branch firm links and complementary
services, form a functionally specialized region along the
MAHSR. The firms, their services, and functions tend to
organize themselves so that Mumbai commands the sta-
tus of the “hub of the network” with the highest number
of firms registered in the city. In contrast, Ahmedabad,
with many branch firms, has become a second-order hub.
Surat and Vadodara have a sparse number of linked branch
firm activities but are agglomerations for manufacturing
industries in the region. Figure 10 shows the sector-wise
distribution of firms and industries along the corridor.
Analysis of firms and industries in the four cities reveals a
tightly linked functional region with cities and areas that
sectorally specialize in-service provision.

13
Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2
Fig. 6  City network formed among firms located in cities of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli
Apart from analyzing four Indian cities in the MAHSR
region, firms and branches associated with them were
found not only in Indian cities but also in countries other
than India. Branch firms having a global presence are most
associated with firms located in Mumbai; these firms have
branch offices located in several cities in the USA, the Euro-
pean Union, Cities in the Middle East in the geographical
West of India, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines,
Japan, and Australia in the geographical East. Figure 11
shows the distribution of firms headquartered in Mumbai,
Surat, among the four analyzed cities and stock exchange
trading centers in Daman, Diu, Dadra, and Nagar Haveli.
Among the three cities in Gujarat:
• Ahmedabad has the most diminutive presence in the
global branch firms.
• Surat marks its presence by providing business services
in Europe and the USA.
Page 11 of 20 2
• Firms registered in Vadodara have branches in the UK
and USA representing chemical manufacturing compa-
nies in Vadodara.
All overseas branches’ services are confined to Finance,
Trading, and Business Services.
Implications: Network form of the MAHSR
Corridor
One of the general implications observed in HSR projects
is how operators approach the region’s implementation.
Typically, operators adopt a broad perspective, aiming to
connect areas with specific population densities through
the construction of HSR lines [14, 46]. It is a conventional
understanding of a region and remains at the population
level [55]. A review of how “Urban” is defined in India
13
 2 Page 12 of 20
Fig. 7  Classification of firms registered in each state of the study region
indicates that designating roles to settlements remains
within the purview of population and density [8]. These
are then classified into different classes and tiers based on
the size of the population. Figure 12 illustrates an HSR
line connecting tier I city with a tier II and tier III city.
Given that to plan an HSR region, attention to the avail-
ability of services and resources within the region is essen-
tial. The study region analyzed shows the different types
of businesses and services accumulated. Observing the
services accumulated in various towns and cities creates
city typologies for a region-wide network. According to
the role they play in the broader HSR region, for example,
cities with a high concentration of business services and
knowledge-intensive employment would remain at the top
of the regional city system, followed by cities and towns
with an accumulation of manufacturing services at the sec-
ond level and, ultimately, towns and villages with agri-
cultural practices. Such clustered distribution of services
and other economic activities gives rise to regions that
13
Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2
are specialized sectorally. Figure 13 illustrates a sectorally
specialized region.
However, the distribution of services in cities with dis-
tinct functions and roles in each region connects through
network channels (see Fig. 14). These network channels
could be e-routes such as telecommunication networks
or physical infrastructure highways, railways, and HSR.
All the network channels are communication networks
or “Space of flows” [9, 10, 15, 71] that are not bound
by administrative boundaries and create a region space
of networked nodes, firms, and manufacturing facilities
connected through communication and transportation
networks.
Although the above three types of regional systems
are components of the same region, additional transport
infrastructure like HSR lines transform the region with
“time–space convergence” [66, 72]. This change in basic
assumptions brings city regions closer to containing net-
worked services segregated by administrative boundaries
Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2 Page 13 of 20 2

Fig. 8  Firm network typologies based on networked firms in the study region

but sectorally specialized. As a result, the hierarchical order
created in these regions transforms the region into a corridor.
The network of firms in MAHSR, such as the hierarchi-
cal order of hubs, cities, and manufacturing nodes, will be
brought closer to the “time–space convergence” effects of
the proposed HSR. There is hierarchical order among the
cities in the MAHSR corridor regarding industrial accu-
mulation. In the descending order of industrial and service
accumulation, the cities follow the following sequence—
Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Surat, and Vadodara. In geographic
distribution and location, Mumbai and Ahmedabad are ter-
minal cities, while Vadodara and Surat are intermediate cit-
ies on the MAHSR line.
Thus, the hierarchical order corresponds to sectoral spe-
cialization accumulated in the individual cities; Mumbai acts
as a network hub of the industries and firms such as finan-
cial, corporate secretary, and business services. Ahmedabad
Table 5  Total number of networked firms in the cities within the
study region
Total number of networked firms
Mumbai Surat Vadodara Ahmedabad
has accumulated clusters of branch firms for other cities’
services and manufacturing industries. An intermediate
city like Surat has a unique specialization in textile manu-
facturing and diamond cutting industries, while Vadodara
specializes in chemical manufacturing. There is a close link-
age among cities along the HSR corridor through HQs in
Mumbai, branch offices and factories in Ahmedabad, and a
medium density of HQ firms in the city.
Though the branch networks are in Ahmedabad, their CS
is located in Mumbai, which provides legal and accountancy
services across the corridor. Thus, a robust functional spe-
cialization has also been formulated in addition to the con-
ventional sectoral specialization in each city. Mumbai has
the highest accumulation of CSs and HQs that link to all the
cities along the corridor and have branches overseas. Such
nature of Mumbai makes it a first-order regional hub and
global gateway for entry to the region. Ahmedabad support-
ing the complementary functions for Mumbai becomes the
secondary-order regional hub. At the same time, other cities
have a sales branch and manufacturing setup, which respond
to the HQs located in the first-order and second-order city,
augmenting the functional dynamics of the region.

Firms with registered addresses in

Discussion and Conclusion
Mumbai 9812 443 158 531
Surat 1454 514 11 91
This study presents a thorough analysis of firm networks
Vadodara 1301 169 178 23
along the proposed MAHSR corridor connecting Mumbai
Ahmedabad 3350 175 12 848
and Ahmedabad. It offers valuable insights for regional

13
 2 Page 14 of 20 Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2

Fig. 9  City network along study

region

Table 6  Intra-urban networked firms Table 8  Distribution of corporate secretary services and their branch
Type 1. Intra-urban network location offices in other cities

Mumbai Surat Vadodara Ahmedabad Corporate secretaries Mumbai Surat Vadodara Ahmedabad

Registered address in Registered CS services 2298 442 181 755

Mumbai 4020 0 0 0 Branch offices in other 1191 239 119 397
cities [CS (B)]
Surat 0 83 0 0
Vadodara 0 0 8 0
Ahmedabad 0 0 0 227
spatial planning, economic development, and infrastruc-
ture projects. Policymakers, urban planners, businesses,
Table 7  Distribution of inter-urban and regional offices (types 2 and and investors stand to benefit from the paper’s findings,
3) networked in four cities as it delves into the intricacies of network structures and
Branch link with other cities dynamics within the MAHSR region. By addressing the
existing gaps in the literature concerning the influence of
Mumbai Surat Vadodara Ahmedabad
high-speed rail connectivity on firm locations and rela-
Registered address in tionships, the study contributes essential knowledge on
Mumbai 5792 443 158 531 the functional specialization of cities along the corridor
Surat 1454 431 11 35 and the hierarchical order of firm accumulation. Moreo-
Vadodara 1301 169 170 23 ver, the study uncovers new knowledge by shedding light
Ahmedabad 3350 175 12 621 on the interconnectedness of firms across various sectors

13
Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2 Page 15 of 20 2

Table 9  Classification of economic activity of networked firms in four cities

Economic activity Mumbai Surat Vadodara Ahmedabad Total

Agriculture and allied activities 174 25 12 45 256

Business services 2154 45 25 112 2336
Community, personal, and social services 547 7 9 36 599
Construction 1082 34 14 79 1209
Electricity, gas, and water companies 182 4 1 5 192
Finance 810 18 8 92 928
Insurance 11 0 0 0 11
Manufacturing (food stuff) 141 10 7 42 200
Manufacturing (leather and products thereof) 10 1 0 1 12
Manufacturing (machinery and equipment) 473 26 17 50 566
Manufacturing (metals, and chemicals, and products thereof) 836 34 49 121 1040
Manufacturing (others) 180 49 2 11 242
Manufacturing (paper and paper products, publishing, printing, 115 4 2 12 133
and reproduction of recorded media)
Manufacturing (textiles) 342 153 6 52 553
Manufacturing (wood products) 15 2 0 2 19
Mining and quarrying 74 7 3 12 96
Others 214 7 1 4 226
Real estate and renting 655 9 1 16 681
Trading 1412 66 15 130 1623
Transport, storage, and communications 385 13 6 26 430
Total 9812 514 178 848 11,352

and underscores the central role of Mumbai as the pri-

Fig. 10  Hierarchy in the cities along the proposed Mumbai–
Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail alignment
mary “hub” city, fostering global connections through
overseas branch firms.
What sets this study apart from others is its innovative
blend of network analysis and the proposed high-speed rail
corridor, making it a valuable addition to regional planning,
transportation studies, and economic geography. The net-
work perspective for understanding regional spatial struc-
tures and dynamics has become a common form of analy-
sis to determine the agglomeration of firms and industries
across geographic space. The study region that was once
“Bombay Presidency” has been one of the important indus-
trial and economic belts since initial decades of Colonial
India. Our distinctive approach and comprehensive exami-
nation offer fresh perspectives on firm locations, economic
activities, and the implications of transportation infrastruc-
ture on regional development in developing economies con-
text. The study discusses the locations of the firms and their
network relation, thus forming the intercity network within
the four cities to be connected by the proposed MAHSR.
Changes in policies adopted during the 5-year plans have
changed the dynamics of regional public and private estab-
lishments. Moreover, examining the distribution of economic
activity reveals the concentration of public and private firms
specializing in business services, trading, and finance we
observe that these firms are located in cities—Ahmedabad,

13
 2 Page 16 of 20 Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2

Fig. 11  Distribution of branch firms with headquarters in Indian cities (Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Surat among the four analyzed cities and
Union Territories—Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli)

Fig. 12  Conventional understanding of a region based on the city-tier Fig. 13  Illustration of a sectorally specialized region. The figure illus-
system. The figure illustrates an HSR line connecting a Tier I, Tier II, trates an HSR line connecting a Service oriented hub city-region with
and a Tier III city a manufacturingoriented hub and other settlements with ancillary
activities

Surat, and Vadodara in Gujarat and Mumbai in Maharashtra

(Fig. 7). The cities are linked with three forms of network
configuration:

13
Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2
Fig. 14  Communication Networks connecting the sectorally spe-
cialized regions. The figure illustrates the communication network
formed by firms and manufacturing facilities located in the different
regions connected by a HSR line
• Type 1—Intra-Urban Network: The network links the
firms within a city.
• Type 2—Inter-Urban Network: The network links firms
and manufacturing facilities in different cities through
branch networks of corporate secretaries.
• Type 3—Regional Office Network: Network identifies the
headquarter–branch office and headquarter–manufactur-
ing facility networks in different cities.
Apart from analyzing four Indian cities in the MAHSR
region, firms and branches associated with these four cit-
ies were found not only in other Indian cities but also in
countries other than India. Overseas branch firms are most
linked to the “hub” city, Mumbai, making the city a global
gateway to invigorate and influence other networked firms
along the region through the linked infrastructure like NH-8,
conventional railways, and MAHSR.
The distribution of networked services along the MAHSR
line presents an accumulation of business services, trading,
and finance in Mumbai; manufacturing of textiles and trad-
ing in Surat; and manufacturing of metals and chemicals in
Vadodara and Branch offices. Business services and trading
firms are in Ahmedabad. At the same time, Mumbai has the
highest concentration of intracity linked firms and inter-city
Page 17 of 20 2
linked headquarters among the four cities. Mumbai is also
the hub for registered corporate secretary firms, followed by
Ahmedabad, the second-order hub for registered corporate
secretary firms. Thus, the branch firm links, services, and
functions in the region tend to organize themselves so that
complementary services together form a functionally spe-
cialized region along the MAHSR.
The accumulated firms in networked cities create a hier-
archical order among the cities along the MAHSR line. In
the descending order of firm accumulation, the cities follow
the following order:
• Mumbai, where the MAHSR line begins, is the “hub” of
the networked cities along the MAHSR corridor.
• Ahmedabad is the second-order hub where the MAHSR
terminates.
• Intermediate stops at Surat and Vadodara are manufac-
turing intensive, catering to the more significant hubs at
each end of the MAHSR line.
The networked cities thus create a functional region
sectorally specialized in services and manufacturing along
the MAHSR corridor. The findings not only unveil the spa-
tial distribution and network configurations of firms in the
MAHSR region but also highlight the functional specializa-
tion of networked cities along the corridor. By identifying
Mumbai as the pivotal “hub” city and Ahmedabad as the
secondary hub, the paper presents a nuanced understanding
of how high-speed rail connectivity influences firm networks
and shapes urban development patterns. Overall, the paper’s
significance lies in its potential to inform strategic decision-
making for various stakeholders, making notable contribu-
tions to comprehending the economic implications of the
proposed high-speed rail corridor.
Future Research
This study provides and ex ante exploration of status of firm
registration, location, and network configuration along the
proposed MAHSR. At a later stage, an ex-post study may
be developed to observe the spillover effects and changes
that MAHSR induced in the region. Among other potential
future research areas include land-use changes and impacts
on the inauguration, changes in accessibility and mobility,
economic impacts, and sustainability and environmental
impacts of the MAHSR line. Furthermore, by exploring
these areas, researchers can better understand the implica-
tions of the MAHSR for firms along its route and identify
strategies for maximizing its positive impacts while mini-
mizing its adverse effects.
13
 2 Page 18 of 20 Transportation in Developing Economies (2024) 10:2

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