ABSTRACT
There are five megacities in India: Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai, whereas Hyderabad and Ahmedabad will be two other megacities by 2030. Megacities are facing a financial crunch due to less revenue and more expenditure, particularly on salaries and other related expenditures. In all municipal bodies of megacities including Delhi (all three corporations of Delhi and New Delhi Municipal Council), around 90 percent of the non-planned allocation is for payment of salaries.
At the time of this writing, the cash-starved Greater Chennai Corporation had put major infrastructure projects on hold for six months. The city corporation was facing a huge financial crisis and till January 2019, the corporation focused only on local body polls and the northeast monsoon. To tap funds from center and state systems and avail themselves of loans from foreign and national banks, the corporation was working overtime. Almost the same situation was repeating in all megacities except Mumbai. The chapter is based on reports of government agencies/bodies, reports of municipal bodies, accounts/audit statements of municipal bodies, reports of central/state finance commission(s), as well as concerning research/case studies and studies conducted on megacities particularly in the context of finances/funds.
