Financing India’s urban infrastructure needs: constraints to commercial financing and prospects for policy action

India is rapidly urbanizing, with about 600 million people expected to be living in cities by 2036. This will put additional pressure on the already stretched urban infrastructure and services in these cities. This report estimates that India will need $840 billion in investment into urban infrastructure over the next 15 years or $55 billion per year on average if it is to effectively meet the needs of this fast-growing population. Despite a recent increase in public sector financing, there is still a large shortfall of resources relative to these needs. This report analyses the demand- and supply-side constraints to raising private financing for urban infrastructure and provides policy actions to address them. It first presents latest estimates of future infrastructure investment needs for Indian cities and reviews recent trends in municipal finance and private commercial financing to meet these needs, focusing on municipal debt and public-private partnerships. It then assesses the key constraints that undermine the mobilization of private finance for urban infrastructure. Finally, it provides proposals for policy action on how these constraints can be addressed at the demand and supply sides and shows how the Government of India can play an important role in removing various market frictions faced by cities. It proposes sequenced measures that can be taken at the city, state, and federal levels to create an environment in which private commercial finance becomes a much bigger part of the solution to India’s urban investment challenge.