A recent study by the Indian Green Building Council predicts that, in the next 10 to 15 years, India will need at least 70 new cities with populations of 500,000 each to handle the rural-to-urban migration and avoid overpopulation in its existing metropolitan areas. In addition, as India's population is expected to exceed China’s by 2020, the federal government has begun pumping undisclosed sums of money into infrastructure and manufacturing.
The government has been planning ecologically healthy cities to deal with its projected status as the world’s most populous nation. “The majority of these developments will happen in and around the established and emerging cities and towns across the country,” says M. Anand, a senior counselor at the Indian Green Building Council.