The Indian School of Business(ISB) is working on developing a Smart City Index for Indian cities. Indian Smart City Index is an initiative of the Punj Lloyd Institute of Infrastructure Management at ISB and would be rooted in the Indian context though it will be designed to be on the lines of some of the best international indices

O.P. Agarwal, Executive Director, Punj Lloyd Institute for Infrastructure Management, ISB  feels that the Smart City Initiative is one of the most important programs of the government for the future economic development of the country. Elaborating on the importance and features of a Smart city, he says, “A smart city is one that is socially, environmentally and financially sustainable It strives to minimize waste of resources like energy, water, etc. in meeting the needs of its residents. A smart city is also one that values its citizens' views and adopts a practice of citizen consultation in almost everything it does. A smart city deploys technology extensively to improve the delivery of its services.”

Once developed, the Indian Smart City Index, will allow comparisons between cities and rank them based on how they perform. It can assess improvements over time and also serve as a measure of a city's liveability and smartness as also assess the same city over a period of time.