India’s top cities are cited as being among the worst in several aspects based on a global study on urban sprawls undertaken by the Oxford Economics Global Cities Index 2026. The assessments were made on the parameters of human capital, economics, environmental strengths and the overall impacts of these on the quality of life. About ninety-one Indian cities are included in this negative ranking, which involved a thousand cities worldwide. Clearly, we are not alone in making life in cities chaotic. While ageing infrastructure constrains most Indian cities, this is also the case with cities in the UK, the United States, or Asian nations generally. China is different in that new, aesthetically appealing and well-planned cities are emerging there, while improvements are regularly made to the old urban landscapes. Today, the large inflow of tourists to China is mainly to see the glitzy, well-built cities, glittering skyscrapers and the stunningly impressive infrastructure.
In terms of population, both India and China are neck-and-neck, with India apparently exceeding the population strength of China now. Indian cities are bursting at the seams with a steady flow of people from rural areas. Migration for jobs is causing a huge burden on the infrastructural facilities of old cities, while new cities are not emerging. The government lacks the will to fashion new cities on modern lines. When Narendra Modi started as prime minister in 2014, one initiative he announced was the Smart City Mission aimed at rejuvenating 100 existing urban spaces that were – and still are—choked with traffic snarls, pollution and poor water and drainage facilities. The Mission received a budgetary allocation of nearly Rs 50,000 crore over 10 years before it was wound up in 2025. Sadly, no noticeable change could be effected in any of these cities. None of them turned Smart, other than the cosmetic introduction of some special buses or the setting up of a few toilets here and there. Modi’s Namami Gange river rejuvenation mission also received a matching fund allocation for over 500 projects, of which over 300 are claimed to be completed. For the most part, our rivers remain what they were 10 years ago.
With vehicles flooding the roads, most of which are narrow across cities, the traffic scenario is steadily worsening. India’s first Metro Rail system became operational in Calcutta in the early 1980s; by now only about 26 cities have benefited from this mass transport system. Even mega cities like Mumbai have recently implemented the Metro Rail system, but it covers only a part of the whole. Travel in the western metropolis or Bengaluru remains a hard struggle. Complacency on the part of governments, run by leaders with poorly equipped minds and noted for their lack of verve and vision, is the principal reason why life in Indian cities is a huge struggle. The outdated drainage systems, complemented by narrow roads, are a curse by themselves. Governments are not even able to offer clean piped drinking water to the teeming millions across cities; not to mention the problems of air and water pollution.