Pune ( , , formerly known as Poona, is the eighth largest city in India , and the second largest in the state of Maharashtra, after Mumbai. Situated 560 metres above sea level on the Deccan plateau at the confluence of the Mula ( ) and Mutha rivers( ) , Pune is the administrative capital of Pune district and the 7th Metro city of India.

Pune is known to have existed as a town since 937 AD. Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire, lived in Pune as a boy, and later oversaw significant growth and development of the town during his reign. In 1730, Pune became an important political centre as the seat of the Peshwa, the prime minister of the Chhatrapati of Satara. After the town was annexed to British India in 1817, it served as a cantonment town and as the "monsoon capital" of the Bombay Presidency until the independence of India.

Today, Pune is known for its educational facilities, having more than a hundred educational institutes and nine universities . Pune had well-established Manufacturing, glass, Sugar and Metal forging industries since 1950-60s.It also boasts a growing industrial hinterland, with many information technology and automotive companies setting up factories in Pune district.Additionally, Pune city is well known for various cultural activities like Classical music, Sports, Literature, Foreign language learning and Administrative, Economics, Social Science studies. These activities and job opportunities attract migrants and students from all over India, and also attract students from Middle-East, Iran, Eastern Europe, South-East Asia which makes for a city of many communities and cultures. Pune had witnessed glorious history, has extraordinary present and will have promising future. However, the city has poor public transport facilities as a result people prefer to use own vehicle (mostly, two wheelers).It is often said that Pune has the largest number of 2-wheelers in Asia. Large number of private vehicles are taking toll on air quality of the city and overcrowding parking places of the city.

Name

The name punna (also transcribed Poona) derives from Punya Nagari (Sanskrit, "City of Virtue"). The oldest reference to this name is on a Rashtrakuta copper plate dated to 1Current Era in which the town is referred to as Punya-Vishaya or Punak Vishaya Pune's Timeline. By the 13th century, it had come to be known as Kasbe Pune or Punavadi. Although the city's name is sometimes transcribed as Poona in English, a practice particularly common during the British Raj, the spelling "Pune" has now become standard.Fact: date=December 2008

Pune is also known as The Oxford of the East, due to the various educational institutions, and also sometimes referred to as The Detroit of India owing to the many manufacturing companies, particularly automobile giants, having their base within the city's metropolitan area.