Emerging Challenges of Metropolitan Governance in India

Metropolitan regions are primary drivers of the economy and their governance is of crucial importance to harness their full potential. Metropolitan governance in India is akin to a one-tier fragmented system with limited coordination. This article discusses issues pertaining to metropolitan governance in India by looking at metropolitan-level transportation, regional planning, a nd metropolitan finances. It argues that the current metropolitan governance structure, such as it is in India, is suboptimal and requires a serious rethink and discusses some of the institutional responses that have emerged given the existing situation. It also suggests short-, medium- and long-term reforms, which would lead to an improved metropolitan system, and recommends that, in the long run, it would be better to have a two-tier metropolitan governance system in India.