These grey settlements, classified as large and very large villages in Census 2011, are home to around 190 million people.

India could thus be considered more urban than official estimates show if different definitions were used. The face of “urban India” would change if these settlements were considered “potentially urban” and reclassified. These grey settlements could even be future hubs of manufacturing and service industries.

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Indian Institute for Human Settlements analysed data of all the 600,000 urban and rural settlements from Census 2011 and visualised these trends using graphs and maps in the book Urban India 2015: Evidence. Some key trends emerged: High density clusters had formed in the neighbourhood of established urban centres; urban settlements in the southern and western regions had increased; and settlements with populations of less than 1,000 had decreased, accompanied by an increase in settlements with populations between 5,000 and 20,000 over the last three decades.

Distribution of the ‘potentially urban’
Distribution of the ‘potentially urban’ - These “large villages” are present in very high numbers in the Gangetic plains, and the southern coastal and delta regions. © Indian Institute for Human Settlements’ ‘Urban India 2015: Evidence’
State-Wise Distribution Of Settlement Structure: The distribution of these ‘villages’ also shows significant variation across states, bringing out the importance of regionally aggregated data, which can be masked in national averages.
State-Wise Distribution Of Settlement Structure: The distribution of these ‘villages’ also shows significant variation across states, bringing out the importance of regionally aggregated data, which can be masked in national averages. - When the two states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are compared, Tamil Nadu accounts for the largest proportion of “towns”, while Maharashtra accounts for the largest proportion of “urban populations”. Although Maharashtra accounted for only 6.5% of the country’s towns, it housed nearly 12% of the country’s urban population (around 54,000 persons per town, on average). Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, had nearly 14% of all towns in India but housed 8% of the total urban population (about 6,300 persons per town, on average). So in Maharashtra, people are distributed in a smaller number of large towns, while in Tamil Nadu they are distributed in a larger number of small towns. © Indian Institute for Human Settlements’ ‘Urban India 2015: Evidence’