Nagpur, Jaipur, Lucknow among India’s 30 emerging cities; who made the list?

Nagpur, Jaipur, and Lucknow are the top 3 emerging cities within India that have seen significant growth potential beyond India's well-established cities, according to Collier's latest report of the top 30 emerging cities in India. These three are anticipated to establish a strong presence in India’s real estate market in the coming years.

Other major emerging cities in the top 10 include Patna, Kochi, Surat, Agra, Bhopal, Vijayawada and Chandigarh. These cities have been assessed on parameters such as physical infrastructure, social infrastructure, demographic growth, economic development, and real estate dynamics.

Over the last decade, India has witnessed an expansion of its road infrastructure including expressways. This transformation has not only improved connectivity but also reshaped the country's real estate landscape. This infrastructural milestone has fuelled urban development, particularly in regions where improved connectivity has unlocked the potential for economic and real estate growth of cities.

Colliers’ latest report, “Top 30 emerging cities of India” also identified 8 micro markets across 30 cities in India. "Nagpur (Samruddhi Circle), Ahmedabad (Shela), Agra (Shastripuram), Jaipur (Ajmer Road), Lucknow (Raebareli Road), Meerut (Ganga Nagar), Chandigarh (Kharar) and Bhopal (Indus Towne) are 8 emerging micro-markets across 30 tier-2 cities in India that show potential land price growth up to 5.2x by 2035," says the report.

Cities with a well-established ecosystem and strong future growth potential, driven by development initiatives from both government and private sectors, achieved higher scores in the assessment, it says. “The expansion of expressways not only improves commuting but also promotes urban growth. It supports economic development, encourages the creation of integrated townships and social infrastructure, and boosts tourism. These factors collectively drive demand for real estate in the region, making it a promising investment opportunity for investors and homebuyers alike. This is the best time to invest in land within the micro-markets of emerging cities along expressways, with expected returns of up to 5.2X over the next decade," says Swapnil Anil, Managing Director, Advisory Services, Colliers India.

The report says expressways like the Yamuna Expressway, Mumbai-Pune Expressway, and Dwarka Expressway have improved infrastructure, which can transform surrounding areas into real estate hotspots. This trend highlights a broader pattern across India, where the construction of new expressways is directly linked to land price appreciation and urbanisation.

Colliers has analysed eight major expressways, including the Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway (Samruddhi Mahamarg), Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway, Jaipur-Delhi Expressway, Meerut-Delhi Expressway, Delhi-Chandigarh Expressway, Delhi-Agra (Yamuna Expressway), Bhopal-Indore Expressway, and Lucknow-Agra Expressway (Purvanchal Expressway), along with the cities and their impacted micro-markets.

The other emerging cities that have found a place in Colliers' top 30 list are Visakhapatnam, Ludhiana, Nashik, Vadodara, Indore, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram, Amritsar, Tiruchirappalli, Meerut, Bhubaneswar, Mysore, Dehradun, Aurangabad, Mangalore, Sonepat, Rajkot, Gandhi Nagar, Raipur and Kozhikode.