Chandigarh, also called The City Beautiful, is a city in India that serves as the capital of two states, Punjab and Haryana, and is a union territory of India. This city known internationally for its architecture and urban planning is the first planned city of India. Chandigarh is home to numerous architectural projects of Le Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret, Matthew Nowicki, and Albert Mayer. The city tops the list of Indian States and Union Territories with the highest per capita income in the country.

After the partition of British India into the two nations of India and Pakistan in 1947, the region of Punjab was also split between India and Pakistan. The Indian state of Punjab required a new capital city to replace Lahore, which became part of Pakistan during the partition. After several plans to make additions to existing cities were found to be infeasible for various reasons, the decision to construct a new and planned city was undertaken. 

Of all the new town schemes in independent India, the Chandigarh project quickly assumed prime significance, because of the city's strategic location as well as the personal interest of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India. Commissioned by Nehru to reflect the new nation's modern, progressive outlook, Nehru famously proclaimed Chandigarh to be "unfettered by the traditions of the past, a symbol of the nation's faith in the future." Several buildings and layouts in Chandigarh were designed by the French (born Swiss) architect and urban planner, Le Corbusier, in the 1950s. Le Corbusier was in fact the second architect of the city, after the initial master plan was prepared by the American architect-planner Albert Mayer who was working with the Poland-born architect Matthew Nowicki. It was only after Nowicki's untimely death in 1950 that Le Corbusier was pulled into the project. 

On 1 November, 1966, the newly-formed Indian state of Haryana was carved out of the eastern portion of the Punjab, in order to create Haryana as a majority Hindi speaking state, while the western portion of Punjab retained a mostly Punjabi language-speaking majority and remained as the current day Punjab. However, the city of Chandigarh was on the border, and was thus created into a union territory to serve as capital of both these states. Chandigarh was due to be transferred to Punjab in 1986, in accordance with an agreement signed in August 1985 by Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India, with Sant Harchand Singh Longowal of the Akali Dal. This was to be accompanied by the creation of a new capital for Haryana, but the transfer had been delayed. There is currently a discussion about which villages in southern districts of Punjab should be transferred to Haryana, and about which Punjabi-speaking villages should be transferred to Punjab. 

The government is a major employer in Chandigarh with three governments having their base here. A significant percentage of Chandigarh’s population therefore consists of people who are either working for one of these governments or have retired from government service. For this reason, Chandigarh is often called a “Pensioner's Paradise”. There are about 15 medium to large industrial including two in the Public sector. In addition Chandigarh has over 2500 units are registered under small scale sector. The important industries are paper manufacturing, basic metals and alloys and machinery. Other industries are relating to food products, sanitary ware, auto parts, machine tools, pharmaceuticals and electrical appliances. Yet, with a Per Capita Income of Rs. 99,262, Chandigarh is the richest city in India. Chandigarh's gross state domestic product for 2004 is estimated at $4.02 billion in current prices. 

Chandigarh has a well developed market and banking infrastructure. Nearly all the major banks in the country have registered their presence in Chandigarh. Most banks with a pan India presence have their zonal/regional offices present in Chandigarh. The Bank Square in Sector 17 in Chandigarh has a large presence of such offices all in one section of the commercial sector. 

Three major trade promotion organizations have their offices in Chandigarh. These are: Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, (FICCI) the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) which has its regional headquarters at Sector 31, Chandigarh. 

The defense forces have a significant presence in Chandigarh, apart from the Indian Air force base in Sector 31 and the nearby Cantonment, the city is the base for sourcing supplies for the defense operations in the region of Leh Laddakh and Siachen.  

Chandigarh IT Park (also Chandigarh Technology Park) is the city's attempt to break into the IT world. Chandigarh's infrastructure, proximity to Delhi, Punjab and Haryana, and the IT talent pool attracts IT businesses looking for office space in the area. Major Indian firms and multinational corporations including FCS Software Solutions Ltd., Second Foundation (India) Pvt Ltd. (Now Fidelity Information Services), Quark, Infosys, Dell, Webart Softech, Miracle Studios, Designers at Extreme and S J Edutech, have offices in the city and its suburbs. According to a recent Global Services Survey conducted by Cyber Media, Chandigarh is ranked 9th in the top 50 cities identified globally as ‘emerging outsourcing and IT services destinations. 

On 15 July 2007, Chandigarh became the first Indian city to go smoke-free. Smoking at public places has been strictly prohibited and considered as a punishable act by Chandigarh Administration. That was followed up by a complete ban on polythene bags.