India, Aug. 7 -- Lack of duly elected governments at the city or urban local body levels is an obstacle to India's ambitious goal of being a developed nation, a report released on Wednesday. The report by Bengaluru-based non-profit Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy argued that developed cities are a key to India's economic growth, and globally, there are no examples of cities being developed well without strong urban local governments.

To make their case, the authors said Indian cities already contribute 60% of GDP. But, compared to the global average of 3.9% increase in per capita GDP for every 1% increase in urbanisation, India delivers only a 1.7% increase.

The study noted that a 932% increase in central government budg...