At the meeting with developers and industrialists in Mumbai on Thursday.
Cities to be part of the Narendra Modi government's ambitious smart city project will be picked by a competition. And the criteria would be how well they have implemented some of the Prime Minister's campaigns -- including the Swacch Bharat and Make in India.
This was what the government told a group of developers and industry leaders in Mumbai today. The policy on smart cities will be officially announced on March 31.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who promised to build 100 smart cities across the country, has indicated that the other parameters could be infrastructure, quality of life, and citizen-centric services.
The Rs 7,060 crore project is meant to be a Public-Private Partnership, for which the Union government expects collaboration from US, France, Singapore and Japan.
The smart cities project was necessitated by the country's burgeoning population, which is expected to become more than double by 2050 - from the current 377 million to 843 million.
"To accommodate this massive urbanisation, India needs to find ways to improve the quality of life of citizens," the secretary of the Urban Development Ministry, Shankar Aggarwal said.
The Prime Minister envisages Smart Cities as an urban space that is ecologically friendly, technologically connected and squarely planned.
While the government plans to make Delhi the country's first smart city, an attempt is also underway in Mumbai's Wadala Greenfield to build one.
"It is being developed keeping in mind mixed land use, pedestrian segregation and green buildings," said Sanjay Sethi, MMRDA's Additional Metropolitan Commissioner.
Indicating the huge role private players are expected to play, Shankar Aggarwal, the secretary of Urban Development Ministry said, "We are expecting 85% of the investment to come from private players and only 15% from state and central bodies".
At today's meeting, while many private firms acknowledged the opportunity, others spelt out their demands clearly.
"The government has to figure out the basic infrastructure. You can't make congested, potholed roads, smart. We will make utilisation of roads and transportation digitally fit," said Ravi Kant Mahlan, the director of Smart Cities and Special Projects, Schneider Electric India.