In what could be a boost to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, Rt. Hon Lord Francis Maude of Horsham, Minister of State for Trade and Investment on Friday launched a report that brought together the very best of what the UK has to offer in delivering smart cities, with an understanding of where it can best support India.
The report ‘India’s Smart Cities Programme – The UK offer to build together’ was commissioned by UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) India from Ernst & Young to scope the potential opportunities for both UK and Indian companies vis-à-vis Modi’s ambition of building 100 smart cities in India.
Presenting the reporting to Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, Lord Maude said, “As India embarks on its ambition to build 100 smart cities, the UK hopes to be an invaluable partner.”
“We look forward to sharing our expertise in building smart cities with India. We take this opportunity very seriously and this report by UKTI scopes the opportunities where Britain can best support India’s aspirations.”
The report analysed the strengths that UK companies have to offer India in delivering its ambitious smart cities programme.
The report stated, “India has an ambition to create 100 new smart cities, and the UK can help.
“…UK companies need to demonstrate to India that they understand Indian needs and have strengths to offer, and present the opportunities clearly to Indian partners or the Indian authorities to get them interested. Based on an analysis of UK strengths against the current skills gap in Indian smart cities,… there are significant opportunities for UK companies to engage in the Indian Smart City market.”
The report identifies several areas where the UK’s expertise would be useful to India, including physical (infrastructure including mass transport, water, waste management, built environment), digital (ICT, data, software, analytics and smart metering), commercial (professional services, regulatory standards, financing and legal), and social (Municipal services, community-led designs and services, e-governance, healthcare), in line with the four pillars mentioned in the Government of India’s draft framework for Smart Cities.
This report is the result of comprehensive primary and secondary research conducted from across different databases, and governmental websites.
Modi government has recently unveiled a list of 98 cities, including 24 state capitals for its ambitious Smart Cities project. Two other cities will be announced later.
Maximum number of to-be-developed smart cities is in UP, followed by Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.
The list includes 13 cities from UP, 12 from Tamil Nadu, 10 from Maharashtra, 7 from MP, and 3 each from Bihar and Andhra Pradesh are included in smart cities list.