Following its consolidation as one large island of greater Bombay from a group of seven small islands, the city went on to become the country's financial capital. Due to the fast pace of modern life and the growth possibilities available in the city, immigrants from all parts of the country started encroaching on the city. Thus, suburbs began to form. Every group of immigrants had to settle outside the city limits due to a lack of space. Soon, these areas developed to a certain level of urbanisation and became part of the city. Thus, the city expanded. Hence, given a settlement in the suburbs of the city, one can roughly judge when people might have started settling in that area.

As modernization accelerates, immigrants who have settled in the city find themselves having to compromise on their ethnic values over modern values for the sake of sustenance and survival. This implies that earlier immigrants were able to establish more ethnic values in the city than the current immigrants.