'India's Smart Cities Aligned With UN Sustainable Development Goals'

"These include open and transparent opportunities for the poor and underprivileged to access information and secure their rights over land, forest and energy resources," the report added.

According to an estimate, by 2050, the population in Indian cities will touch 843 million.

The report said the "government's smart city initiative has specified several possible

funding sources- both conventional as well as innovative, in order to meet the 7.5 trillion amount required over 20 years".

"Besides central and state funding, the list includes possible funding from multilateral and bilateral development agencies, pooled municipal debt obligation facilities, municipal bonds, real estate investment trusts and infrastructure investment trusts."

The report was prepared for presentation at the Smart City Landscape 2015 international exhibition and conference held here earlier this month.

Participating companies included Hewlett-Packard, Wipro, CISCO, Schneider Electric, Lavasa, Barco, Berger Paints India, L&T Construction, Volvo, Skipper Ltd, Royal Appliances, the Newgen Group, among others.