IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jouinf/v7y2015i1p55-75.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financing India’s Urban Infrastructure

Author

Listed:
  • Soumyadip Chattopadhyay

Abstract

Cities in India are envisioned as engines of growth but they suffer from severe service shortages. The realisation of the full potential of cities depends crucially on their ability in meeting the challenges of providing urban infrastructure on a sustainable basis. This article, therefore, reviews the current financing options for urban infrastructure and discusses the strategies for pursuing reform agenda needed to strengthen financial health of the municipalities. Given the inadequacies of the municipal financial resources and capacities, this article emphasises on the need for an integrated policy and regulatory environment, in which urban local bodies (ULBs) can enhance their capacities to generate resources from existing sources at their disposal and also can better utilise innovative sources of infrastructure financing. In particular, possible reform actions to improve municipal finance are clarifications in institutional arrangements for service delivery, true local financial autonomy, sustainable finances supported by user charges, restructuring of intergovernmental grants to incentivise reform with greater assistances for smaller cities, encouraging public–private partnerships (PPPs), deepening of the municipal bond market, local capacity building, strengthening regulatory framework of service delivery and public participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Soumyadip Chattopadhyay, 2015. "Financing India’s Urban Infrastructure," Journal of Infrastructure Development, India Development Foundation, vol. 7(1), pages 55-75, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jouinf:v:7:y:2015:i:1:p:55-75
    DOI: 10.1177/0974930615581224
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0974930615581224
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0974930615581224?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bandyopadhyay, Simanti & Rao, M. Govinda, 2009. "Fiscal health of selected Indian cities," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4863, The World Bank.
    2. Sridhar, Kala Seetharam, 2011. "The Efficiency of States and Cities: Is There a Case for Public Land Leasing and Sales to Finance India's Cities?," WIDER Working Paper Series 054, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Kala Seetharam Sridhar, 2011. "The Efficiency of States and Cities: Is There a Case for Public Land Leasing and Sales to Finance India's Cities?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2011-054, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Roy Bahl, 2012. "Metropolitan City Finances in India: Options for A New Fiscal Architecture," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1233, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Roy Bahl, 2012. "Metropolitan City Finances in India: Options for A New Fiscal Architecture," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1233, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    2. Andrew Feltenstein & Nour Abdul-Razzak & Jeffrey Condon & Biplab Kumar Datta, 2015. "Tax Evasion, the Provision of Public Infrastructure and Growth: A General Equilibrium Approach to Two Very Different Countries, Egypt and Mauritius," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE), vol. 24(suppl_2), pages 43-72.
    3. M. Govinda Rao & Bird, Richard M., 2010. "Urban governance and finance in India," Working Papers 10/68, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
    4. Roy Bahl, 2017. "Metropolitan city finances in Asia and the Pacific region: issues, problems and reform options," MPDD Working Paper Series WP/17/04, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
    5. Simanti Bandyopadhyay, 2014. "Some New Thoughts on Performance Evaluation of Governments: An Application to Indian Cities," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1430, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    6. Simanti Bandyopadhyay, 2012. "Performance Evaluation of Urban Local Governments: A Case for Indian Cities," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1232, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    7. Shah, Anwar, 2012. "Grant financing of metropolitan areas : a review of principles and worldwide practices," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6002, The World Bank.
    8. M. Govinda Rao & Richard M. Bird, 2011. "Coping with Change: The Need to Restructure Urban Governance and Finance in India," IMFG Papers 04, University of Toronto, Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance.
    9. Simanti Bandyopadhyay, 2014. "Municipal Finance in India: Some Critical Issues," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1421, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    10. Simanti Bandyopadhyay, 2013. "Estimating Fiscal Health of Cities: A Methodological Framework for Developing Countries," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1319, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    11. Simanti Bandyopadhyay, 2015. "Financial management and service delivery: a nonparametric analysis for Indian cities," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 54(3), pages 721-751, May.
    12. Gezani Mazibuko, 2021. "Local Government: Getting the South African Municipal Finances Right," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 12(4), pages 1-11.
    13. Simanti Bandyopadhyay, 2013. "Property Tax Reforms in India: A Comparison of Delhi and Bangalore," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1321, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Municipal finance; urban infrastructure; urban reform; India;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R51 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Finance in Urban and Rural Economies
    • H72 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Budget and Expenditures

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jouinf:v:7:y:2015:i:1:p:55-75. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.idfresearch.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.