Challenges in Metropolitan Management: the Indian Experience

With a population crossing a billion and more than five thousand cities, India is one of the largest markets in the world. Three of the fifteen most populated cities in the world are situated in India—Mumbai, Delhi, and Kolkata. Although the metropolitan areas contribute a major chunk to the growth and income of the nation, only 52 per cent of urban households have tap water, only 741 out of 1000 urban dwellers have access to toilets, and 77 per cent of the urban households are covered by closed surface drainage. Faced with these major challenges, can Indian cities find the revenues they need to improve services? Are they financially viable and self-sustaining? This talk aims to discuss these issues.

SPEAKER

Simanti Bandyopadhyay is a Senior Economist with the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, India, an autonomous research institute under the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. She is currently the Visiting Scholar at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance, Munk School of Global Affairs. Her major areas of interest include applied economic development and public policy (with special reference to local finances, performance evaluation and efficiency analysis of industries. and environmental policy). She regularly teaches and does research at various universities and institutes in India and abroad. She has presented her work at conferences in India and abroad, and has published a number of articles in refereed journals. She has been the chief researcher and consultant with Fourth State Finance Commission of Tamil Nadu in India, and has a varied experience of undertaking projects with the leading multilateral agencies.