Articles by Sahil Gandhi

Metropolitan regions are primary drivers of the economy and their governance is of crucial importance to harness their full potential. Metropolitan governance in India is akin to a one-tier fragmented system with limited coordination. This article discusses issues pertaining to metropolitan governance in India by looking at metropolitan-level transportation, regional planning, a nd metropolitan finances. It argues that the current metropolitan governance structure, such as it is in India, is suboptimal and requires a serious rethink and discusses some of the institutional responses that have emerged given the existing situation. It also suggests short-, medium- and long-term reforms, which would lead to an improved metropolitan system, and recommends that, in the long run, it would be better to have a two-tier metropolitan governance system in India.

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What Urbanisation Reforms Owe K C Sivaramakrishnan

Vol. 52, Issue No. 22, 03 Jun, 2017

Sahil Gandhi, Vaidehi Tandel

K C Sivaramakrishnan’s key contribution on metropolitan governance is the articulation of specific recommendations for reforming the current system. He stressed taking a holistic view and having systemic change with democratic decentralisation at the core. He recommended building the governance system anew by creating a metropolitan council at the regional level.

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Real Estate Prices in Mumbai

Vol. 49, Issue No. 9, 01 Mar, 2014

Abhay Pethe, Sahil Gandhi, Sushrut Risbud, Vaidehi Tandel, Vidyadhar Phatak

The paper estimates the impact of various neighbourhood, spatial, and externality factors on residential prices in Mumbai. We find that distance from the central business district, proximity to the west coast, presence of slums, proportion of residential and commercial built-up areas, and proximity to the railway station have a significant impact on residential prices. Amenities and open spaces do not have any significant impact on prices. Further, we model the impact of the upcoming metro line on the residential prices. We find that the upcoming metro has no significant effect on prices. These findings have strong implications for policy decisions regarding introduction of land-based fiscal tools such as betterment levies for capturing land value appreciation that is expected to arise from new infrastructure.

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Revisiting the Real Estate Bill, 2013

Vol. 48, Issue No. 48, 30 Nov, 2013

Sahil Gandhi, Shirish B Patel, Vaidehi Tandel

The central government has introduced the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill, 2013, which sets up a regulatory authority to protect consumers as well as promote the real estate sector. This article compares various provisions of the bill with a 2011 draft as well as a bill introduced in the Maharashtra legislature in 2012. It also provides a brief overview of the regulatory mechanisms in different countries for governing the real estate industry. It fi nds that the bill has serious defi ciencies and will do little to help either customers or builders. It will only add one more layer of bureaucracy to an already tedious real estate development process.

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Unravelling the Anatomy of Legal Corruption

Vol. 47, Issue No. 21, 26 May, 2012

Abhay Pethe, Sahil Gandhi, Vaidehi Tandel

Corruption in India is ubiquitous and may be broadly classified as illegal and "legal". This paper delves into the typology of legal corruption, which, apart from abuse of discretionary powers and tactical law and policymaking, includes use of the information advantage by politicians to make private gains. Analysing the growth rates in assets of some politicians in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, it finds that they are much higher than the market growth rate. The paper recommends enforcing greater transparency by disseminating information on all transactions conducted by politicians and implementing broad-based reforms to bring about system-wide changes.

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Assessing the Mumbai Metropolitan Region: A Governance Perspective

Vol. 46, Issue No. 26-27, 25 Jun, 2011

Abhay Pethe, Sahil Gandhi, Vaidehi Tandel

This paper takes the position that a useful governance perspective must be informed by the socio-economiccultural milieu, and in the specific Indian context must sit on a tripod of "political reality", "state of decentralisation" and "basic economic principles". The Mumbai Metropolitan Region is one of the most important growth engines for India as it accrues tremendous revenues to the central and the Maharashtra state governments. The paper assesses the performance of the governance system in mmr which resembles a polycentric governance system - a system that has been heralded as being greatly suited to metropolitan regions by several scholars. It recognises that metropolitan governance is but a concept, since in reality it comprises a loose bundle of multiple actors and organisations. For sharper focus, the paper studies the interactions between the only two (dominant) public organisations in governance - Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority. The assessment reveals that the institutions - rules of the game - which are essential for the efficient functioning of polycentric governance system are missing in the region. It emphasises the need to bring about micro reforms in the institutional framework for polycentric governance to be successful in mmr.