Delhi was the largest city in terms of number of inhabitants in India in 2025. The capital city was estimated to house nearly 35 million people, with Mumbai ranking second that year. India's population estimate was 1.4 billion, ahead of China that same year.

As per a decadal analysis of forest cover change in megacities of India between 2011 and 2021, Hyderabad emerged as the city with a *** percent growth in forest area, followed by Chennai and Delhi. Ahmedabad lost ** percent of its forest cover in a period of ten years.

The dataset contains the building damage risk map for the fast growing Indian megacities: New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Kolkata, based on the vertical land motion map.Researchers can use ArcGIS/QGIS or any other programming languages supporting GeoTIFF format to extract the values along with the latitude and longitude.

In a survey conducted in 2022 among respondents from megacities of India, Pune-Pimpri Chinwad emerged on top in terms of inclusive mobility with a score of ****, among all megacities of India. It was closely followed by Mumbai and Bengaluru. The parameter of inclusive mobility includes mobility systems meeting the needs of diverse group of populations including women, children, trans/non-binary, the elderly, the disabled among others.. Megacities are defined as cities with a population of over ************ as per the survey. The Ease of Moving Index is a composite index comprising **** parameters across ** indicators. The parameters include seamless, inclusive, clean, efficient and shared mobility and investment in the city among others.

In a survey conducted in 2022 among respondents from megacities of India, Pune emerged on the top with a score of **** among all megacities of India, followed by Mumbai and Hyderabad. Megacities are defined as cities with a population of over ************, as per the survey. The Ease of Moving Index is a composite index comprising **** parameters across ** indicators. The parameters include seamless, inclusive, clean, efficient, and shared mobility and investment in the city, among others.

In a survey conducted in 2022 among respondents from megacities of India, Surat emerged on the top in terms of clean mobility with a score of ****, among all megacities of India. It was closely followed by Chennai and Pune-Pimpri-Chinwad. The parameter of clean mobility includes impact of air pollution, clean mobility focused policies, willingness to adopt electric mobility, among others. Megacities are defined as the cities with a population of over ************ as per the survey. The Ease of Moving Index is a composite index comprising **** parameters across ** indicators. The parameters include seamless, inclusive, clean, efficient and shared mobility and investment in the city among others.

Supplemental Online Material for: Potential for water balance by using rainwater: An analysis of Delhi, Megacity in India

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are rapidly urbanizing, leading to a high demand for high-quality animal products. Production increase is seen as a key to meeting this demand and reducing the global environmental impact of low-yielding dairy production system (DPS) often found in LMICs. Therefore, the present study assesses the relationship between enteric methane emissions and different dairy production strategies, taking DPS in the rural–urban interface of Bengaluru, an Indian megacity, as a case study. Twenty-eight dairy farms, evenly distributed across four DPS, were monitored for 1 year (eight visits at 6-week intervals). Following IPCC 2006 guidelines and a Tier 2 approach, enteric methane emissions from dairy cattle were calculated as carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq). Dairy producers in ExtDPS, an extensive DPS found throughout the rural–urban interface of Bengaluru, fed their dairy cattle a high-quality diet, partly based on organic wastes from markets or neighbors, achieving 9.4 kg energy-corrected milk (ECM) per cow and day. Dairy producers in Semi-ADPS, a semi-intensive and rural DPS, fed an average quality diet and achieved the lowest milk production (7.9 kg ECM cow−1 day−1; p 

Water security, the access to adequate amounts of water of adequate quality, is and will remain a hugely important issue over the next decades as climate change and related hazards, food insecurity, and social instability will exacerbate insecurities. Despite attempts made by researchers and water professionals to study different dimensions of water security in urban areas, there is still an absence of comprehensive water security measurement tools. This study aims to untangle the interrelationship between biophysical and socio-economic dimensions that shape water security in a megacity in the Global South—Kolkata, India. It provides an interdisciplinary understanding of urban water security by extracting and integrating relevant empirical knowledge on urban water issues in the city from physical, environmental, and social sciences approaches. To do so we use intersectional perspectives to analyze urban water security at a micro (respondent) level and associated challenges across and between areas within the city. The study concludes with the recommendation that future studies should make use of comprehensive and inclusive approaches so we can ensure that we leave no one behind.

As of September 2025, Mumbai had the highest cost of living among other cities in the country, with an index value of ****. Gurgaon, a satellite city of Delhi and part of the National Capital Region (NCR) followed it with an index value of ****.  What is cost of living? The cost of living varies depending on geographical regions and factors that affect the cost of living in an area include housing, food, utilities, clothing, childcare, and fuel among others. The cost of living is calculated based on different measures such as the consumer price index (CPI), living cost indexes, and wage price index. CPI refers to the change in the value of consumer goods and services. The wage price index, on the other hand, measures the change in labor services prices due to market pressures. Lastly, the living cost indexes calculate the impact of changing costs on different households. The relationship between wages and costs determines affordability and shifts in the cost of living. Mumbai tops the list Mumbai usually tops the list of most expensive cities in India. As the financial and entertainment hub of the country, Mumbai offers wide opportunities and attracts talent from all over the country. It is the second-largest city in India and has one of the most expensive real estates in the world.

This dataset includes the raw data of a survey of 536 local residents along two rural-urban gradients around Bengaluru, India. The dataset sheet presents respondents' socio-demographic characteristics (village, village stratum, gender, age education, religion, length of residence, caste, occupation). It then displays Likert-scale answers, ranging from 1 ("not important" to 5 ("very important"), on agreement about the importance of water-filled and dry lakes (shown on photographs) for the provision of the respective ecosystem services and disservices, based on their livelihood needs and experiences. It then shows the answers to open questions on challenges and management options regarding lakes. The complete method is described in: Plieninger, T., Thapa, P., Bhaskar, D., Nagendra, H., Torralba, M., & Zoderer, B. M. (2022): Disentangling ecosystem services perceptions from blue infrastructure around a rapidly expanding megacity. Landscape and Urban Planning, in press.

In a survey conducted in 2022 among respondents from megacities of India, Surat emerged on the top in terms of getting closer to the goal of zero road accidents with a score of ****, among all megacities of India. It was closely followed by Pune and Hyderabad. The parameter includes commuter perception, road fatality numbers and other road infrastructure related points. Megacities are defined as the cities with a population of over **** million as per the survey. The Ease of Moving Index is a composite index comprising **** parameters across ** indicators. The parameters include seamless, inclusive, clean, efficient and shared mobility and investment in the city among others.

Yearly citation counts for the publication titled "Analysis of Indian residences in terms of energy efficiency through energy education – a case study of Mumbai megacity".

 Rampant urbanization reduces dairy feed production near Indian cities.  Farmers rely on food leftovers and lakeshore vegetation as alternative feed sources.  Changed diets impacts milk quality, especially the fatty acid profile.  Urban cows’ milk contains more beneficial fatty acids than peri-urban cows’ milk.

Multiple regression coefficient table and Pearson correlation coefficient table of NTL density in Indian state after excluding two megacities.

Urbanization is a main driver of agricultural transition in the Global South but how it shapes trends of intensification or extensification is not yet well understood. The Indian megacity of Bengaluru combines rapid urbanization with a high demand for dairy products, which is partly supplied by urban and peri-urban dairy producers. To study the impacts of urbaniza- tion on dairy production and to identify key features of dairy production systems across Ben- galuru’s rural-urban interface, 337 dairy producers were surveyed on the socio-economic profile of their household, their dairy herd and management, resources availability and, in- and output markets. A two-step cluster analysis identified four spatially explicit dairy produc- tion systems based on urbanization level of their neighborhood, reliance on self-cultivated forages, pasture use, cattle in- and outflow and share of specialized dairy genotypes. The most extensive dairy production system, common to the whole rural-urban interface, utilized publicly available feed resources and pasture grounds rather than to cultivate forages. In rural areas, two semi-intensive and one intensive dairy production systems relying on self- cultivation of forage with or without pasture further distinguished themselves by their herd and breeding management. In rural areas, the village’s dairy cooperative, which also pro- vided access to inputs such as exotic genotype through artificial insemination, concentrate feeds and health care, was often the only marketing channel available to dairy producers, irrespective of the dairy production system to which they belonged. In urban areas, milk was mostly sold through direct marketing or a middleman. Despite rapidly progressing urbaniza- tion and a population of 10 million, Bengaluru’s dairy sector still relies on small-scale family dairy farms. Shifts in resources availability, such as land and labor, are potential drivers of market-oriented intensification but also extensification of dairy production in an urbanizing environment.

This dataset contains Organic aerosols, NO3-, SO4=, Cl- and NH4+ submicron concentrations in µg m-3 measured with High Resolution Time of Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) and Organic aerosol factors (Cooking Organic Aerosol (COA), Nitrogen-rich Hydrocarbon-like Organic Aerosol (NHOA), Solid-Fuel Organic Aerosol (SFOA), Hydrocarbon-like Organic Aerosol (HOA), Semi-Volatility Biomass Burning Organic Aerosol (SVBBOA), Low-Volatility Oxygenated Organic Aerosol (LVOOA), Semi-Volatility Oxygenated Organic Aerosol (SVOOA)) identified using positive matrix factorization. The instrument was located at the Indira Gandhi Delhi Technical University for Women (IGDTUW) from May to Nov 2018. The instrument sampled initially at 7 m above ground level, then was moved to 35 m above ground on the 5th of November 2018.

The data were collected as part of the DelhiFlux project under the Air Pollution & Human Health in a Developing Indian Megacity (APHH-India) programme, and the UKCEH’s SUNRISE programme delivering National Capability to NERC.

As of September 2025, Hyderabad was the leading Indian city in local purchasing power among other Indian cities, with an index score of over *****. It was followed by Bengaluru and Pune. The local purchasing power index depicts the relative purchasing power of goods and services in a city for the average net salary in that city.

Complex urbanisation dynamics, on the one hand, create a high demand for animal products, and on the other hand put enor- mous pressure on arable land with negative consequences for animal feed production. To explore the impact of accelerated urbanisation on dairy cattle health in urban farming systems, 151 farmers from different parts of the Greater Bengaluru met- ropolitan area in India were individually interviewed on aspects addressing cattle management and cattle health. In addition, 97 samples of forages from the shores of 10 different lakes, and vegetable leftovers used in cattle feeding were collected for nutritional analysis. Along with the use of cultivated forages, crop residues, and concentrate feed, 47% and 77% of the farmers occasionally or frequently used lake fodder and food leftovers, respectively. Nutritionally, lake fodder corresponded to high- quality pasture vegetation, but 43% of the samples contained toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, and lead above official critical threshold levels. Therefore, lake fodder may affect cows’ health if consumed regularly; however, heavy metal concentrations varied between lakes (P < 0.05), but not between fodder types (P > 0.05). Although 60% of the interviewed farmers believed that their cows were in good health, logit model applications revealed that insufficient drinking water supply and the use of lake fodder negatively impacted cattle health (P < 0.05). While it remains unknown if regular feeding of lake fodder results in heavy metal accumulation in animal products, farmers and farm advisors must address this and other urbanization-related challenges to protect cattle health.

1. Expanding cities increasingly encroach fertile farmlands, questioning the viability of maintaining agriculture within and around them. Yet, our knowledge on how urbanization influences pollinator communities and the provision of pollination services to crops is limited, especially for the urbanization hotspots of the Global South.
2. Mango (Mangifera indica) is one of the most important fruit crops in tropical countries. To analyze the dependency of mango on its main insect pollinators, and the direct and indirect effects of urbanization and insecticides on pollinator abundance and mango yield, we conducted a pollinator exclusion experiment and sampled flower visitors on 16 mango farms spread across rural-urban landscapes in Bengaluru, a South Indian megacity.
3. We found that allowing flowers access to ants and flying visitors (bees, hoverflies, non-syrphid flies), dramatically increased mango yield by 350%, highlighting the importance of wild insects for mango pollination. We detected a trend between wild bee abundance and the final fruit set, with an increase of 20% when the number of bees increased from 25 to 125.
4. Urbanization did not directly affect pollinator abundance or mango yield. However, the amount of insecticide applications had strong negative effects on wild bee abundance at low and intermediate levels of urbanization, while it had no effect in highly urbanized areas, presumably because of higher availability of flowering resources. Moreover, the amount of insecticides decreased the weight of harvested mango fruits by almost 30%. This may indicate trade-offs between conventional pest control and enhanced crop yields through pollination by wild insects in rural areas.
5. Synthesis and applications. Our results indicate that mango production can be maintained at a profitable level in urbanized landscapes with insect pollinators more than tripling final yield. However, increasing use of insecticides, besides raising farmers' expenses, can have negative effects on wild insect pollinators and mango yield, especially in rural areas. To safeguard crucial pollination services, it is therefore critical to conserve and promote wild insect pollinators by minimizing the negative effects of insecticide applications in these areas.