As a growing economy and the world’s twelfth largest economy, India has great potential in the goods and services it can offer others, and as a huge potential market for investors and traders, so it  is no surprise that UK Prime Minister David Cameron has chosen to visit India as one of his first major overseas visits since being elected in May, and I was very pleased to see that representatives of local government were included in the delegation.

India also has areas of extreme poverty, where living conditions are desperate and there is little or no access to basic services. Local self-government is at the forefront of providing these services and the necessary infrastructure to help tackle poverty, living conditions, job creation and promote sustainable economic growth.  As service delivery pressures on municipalities increase, and funding sources become more strained, local governments face urgent capital needs to invest into key infrastructure to deliver better municipal services to the estimated 300 million urban population.

The Government of India is taking a number of measures to tackle this: the major JNNURM programme which will see investment of up to $20bn into urban Indian centres to promote urban development, and the rural employment act (NREGA) guarantees 100 days of employment to those in rural areas to reduce migration to urban centres and provide a workforce for infrastructure development.

Our forthcoming Commonwealth Local Government South Asia Conference on Municipal Financing for prop-poor and Inclusive Development in Mumbai in September will provide a major platform to discuss some of these issues and showcase some of the projects in India, as well as bringing case studies on innovations from across the Commonwealth. We are grateful for the support of the Government of India and the participation of Hon Minister Kumari Selja, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary-General Ransford Smith and the international participation of our Board members from Australia, Canada, South Africa and Sri Lanka.

Carl Wright

Secretary-General