According to Census of India 2001, there were about 35 cities in India, and now increased to 48 cities (census, 2011). Among these, five cities namely Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai are listed in the top 30 mega cities of the world based on population of > 10 million. (City data, 2010) These Indian macro cities have high population densities with Mumbai growing at 2%, Delhi by 3%, Kolkata by 1.3%, and Chennai by 3%. These cities as illustrated in Figure 1 have population of about 8 million to 14 million (World urbanisation prospects, 2011). Figure 2 depicts the cities chosen for the current investigation of urbanisation apart from understanding the spatial patterns of urbanisation.

Figure 1. Population growth in 4 megacities of India (In millions)

Figure 2. Metropolitan Indian mega cities - Study regions