Abstract:The cities and towns of India constitute the world's second largest urban system besides contributing over 50 per cent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This phenomenon has been neglected by the existing studies and writings on urban India. By considering 59 large cities in India and employing new economic geography models, this paper investigates the relevant state and city-specific determinants of urban agglomeration. In addition, the spatial interactions between cities and the effect of urban agglomeration on India's urban economic growth are estimated. The empirical results show that agglomeration economies are policy-induced as well as market-determined and offer evidence of the strong positive effect of agglomeration on urban economic growth and support for the non-linearity of the Core-Periphery (CP) model in India's urban system.

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In recent decades, urbanization in Punjab is occurring rapidly by reducing the share of agricultural activity and increasing rural to urban migration. In this perspective, the present paper using Census data describes the recent past trends and patterns of Punjab's urbanization from 1961 to 2011. It investigates the relevant determinants of urbanization in Punjab. Finally, it measures the impact of urbanization on urban economic growth in Punjab. The empirical results show that the growth rate of urban population is higher than that of the total population in Punjab. Urban agglomerations and urban areas of in Punjab also are increasing rapidly. Most importantly, it has been seen that urban population in Punjab is concentrated in an around Class I cities than other class of cities/towns. The OLS regression results show that road distance to sub division (or nearest city population of 1 lakh and more) has a negative effect on urbanization in Punjab measured by size of city population. On the other hand, city-wise total road length has a positive impact on urbanization in Punjab. In addition to that, city-wise total number of schools, colleges and electricity connections has a positive impact on urbanization in Punjab measured by city population density. The paper also finds the positive link between urbanization measured by size of district urban population and urban economic growth measured by district domestic product in Punjab. Finally, the paper suggests several policy options for planned urbanization in Punjab for not only to improve economic growth in Punjab but also in India as well.

Abstract:As a part of the development process, India is currently going through a transformation from agriculture based economy to industry and service lead urbanized economy. However, no formal quantitative research has been done on this phenomenon. In this perspective, based on Matsuyama's (1992) theoretical framework and using panel data model, the impact of agricultural activities on urbanization in India is analyzed in this paper. For the analysis 15 major agricultural states of India are considered for the period of 1981 to 2015 by sourcing data from mainly Census of India and Ministry of agriculture, government of India. The empirical estimations reveal that the higher share of agriculture in GDP, amount of cultivated land area, and rural male employment in agriculture have had a negative effect on urbanization in India. On the other hand, higher consumption of fertilizer, state government expenditure on agriculture, production of major crops (wheat, maize, jowar, and bajra), rural female employment in agriculture, and rural literacy rate have had a positive impact on urbanization. The results also show that the effect of agriculture productivity is positive on urbanization for a less trade open economy like India. Finally, it is suggested that there is need of higher agricultural development in order to achieve a higher level of urbanization in India. For this purpose use of technology in agriculture sector along with higher level rural education is required. Finally, we need to have balanced rural and urban policy for a smooth rural-urban transformation in India.

Abstract:This paper measures the overall inclusive growth of a city by considering changing trends in the key economic variables based on "Borda ranking" and establishes a relationship between city economic growth and overall city inclusive growth. By using data of 52 large cities in India, this paper finds that higher urban economic growth is associated with an increase in urban inequality, a reduction in urban poverty, and a lower level of overall inclusive growth of a city.