Sanjeev Sanyal remarked that the easter half of India is in need of "strong growth hubs", while replying to Amitabh Kant's list of 15 cities which contributed 30% of India's gross domestic product.
Sanyal was responding to Kant, a former chief executive officer of NITI Aayog, who made a post on social media platform X naming the cities.
These cities were Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Coimbatore, Noida/Greater Noida, Kochi, Gurugram, Vishakhapatnam, and Nagpur.
He said that these cities will be detrimental to help India's economy reach over 30 trillion economy by 2047, facilitating an extra 1.5% of growth. He emphasised the need for good municipal governance of these cities. "Cities are the engines of India's future growth, innovation, and job creation," he said.
Cities are the engines of India's future growth, innovation, and job creation. Just 15 urban hubs contribute 30% of India's GDP . These fifteen cities alone – Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Coimbatore,
December 3, 2025
Noida/Greater Noida, Kochi,…Sanyal, a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's economic advisory council, stated that the eastern half of India requires "stronger growth hubs", noting the lack of eastern cities in the list.
He said Kolkata, the only eastern city to make the list, had been "underperforming for the last two generations".
"The list tells you another important issue. Only one of those cities is in the eastern half of the country. And the single eastern city - Kolkata - has been underperforming for the last two generations. The eastern half needs strong growth hubs," Sanyal wrote in his reply.
The list tells you another important issue. Only one of those cities is in the eastern half of the country. And the single eastern city - Kolkata - has been underperforming for the last two generations. The eastern half needs strong growth hubs. https://t.co/wQrqzr5vFR
December 3, 2025The economist had also echoed this sentiment in November 2024, arguing that India was facing an east-west divide on economic lines instead of a north-south divide.
He stated that Telangana and Karnataka had seen notable growth since the liberalisation reforms in the 1990s, and said that they were lagging behind before the reforms.
He also made comparisons between Goa and Gujarat with Bihar and West Bengal, stating that the former exhibited better growth and average income metrics as compared to the latter, advocating for more liberalisation in these states.
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