Mumbai, the bustling economic capital of India, is the rudest city on earth, whereas Sao Paulo in Brazil [Images] and New York in the US are among the most cordial, a survey has found.

The survey on common courtsey conducted by popular monthly Readers Digest has found the culture of extending help, expressing gratitude when helped and talking politely are not part of everyday life in Mumbai.

The magazine sent its over 2,000 reporters to gauge the politeness level of leading cities in 35 countries where it publishes from.

The survey used three tests to take stock of the politeness factor -- dropping papers in a busy street to see if anyone would help, checking how often shop assistants said "thank you", and counting how often someone held a door open.

Mumbai's count in the test was lower than even Bucharest, the rudest of European cities.

Asia, in general, scored low on the chart, with every city on the continent, excepting Hong Kong, finding a place among the bottom 10.

New York topped the chart with a score of 80 per cent whereas in Sao Paulo, even miscreants were found saying "thank you", the survey said.

The other polite cities are Zagreb in Croatia, where people on the streets are ever willing to help, and Stockholm, where shop assistants thank customers for making purchases.

Among the rude cities are popular metros like London [Images] and Paris, which came a joint 15th, recording just 57 per cent.

Moscow [Images] too qualified as a rude city, with just 42 per cent. Cities like Berlin, Warsaw, Madrid and Prague were found to be more polite than Paris and London. The average politeness level of the world was found to be 55 per cent, the study said.