The Narendra Modi government's vision of creating 100 smart cities will require an investment of over $150 billion over the next few years, with private sector being a significant contributor, says a report.

According to Deloitte, nearly $120 billion will come from the private sector.

The government has already initiated two programmes with an initial outlay of $7.513 billion for 'Smart Cities Mission' and the 'Atal Mission for Rejuvenation of Urban Transformation (AMRUT)' for the upgradation of 500 existing cities.

"Even as funding for these smart cities is an area of concern, the major challenges remain with respect to the development of smart cities project management, government decision making and policy and regulatory framework," Deloitte India's PN Sudarshan said.

The government recently announced the list of first 20 cities to be developed as 'smart cities' with Bhubaneswar topping the list followed by Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Vishakapatnam, Sholapur, Davangere, Indore, New Delhi, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana and Bhopal.

While several cities have made incremental investments in smart solutions, the challenge will be to replicate these on a larger scale, he said.

According to the study, in 2016, service providers and over-the-top content providers will invest heavily in city- wide Wi-Fi networks which will be the back-bone for smart city services.