K. Sanjay Murthy | Photo credit: file photo
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) K. Sanjay Murthy said on Thursday that global congestion indices have increased from 20% to 25% from 2025, costing every city commuter between 100 and 180 hours of productive time every year.
Speaking at the 5th BRICS Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) Leaders’ Summit here, Mr. Murthy said that urban mobility has failed not because of lack of roads or railways, but because of lack of systems that work together.
“We build metro lines that don’t connect to bus networks. We build flyovers that only move congestion. We measure performance, kilometers of road laid, stations built, rather than results: has commuting time been reduced? Has air quality improved? Has inequality of access been reduced?” said Mr. Murthy.
About Indian cities, he said that today our cities occupy only 3% of our land, yet they contribute 60% of our national GDP.
“By 2030, 70% of all new jobs in India will be created in cities. According to the UN, more than 50% of India’s population will live in our cities and towns by 2050,” he said.
He added that CAG was conducting a special audit of 101 Indian cities that assessed Ease of Living from the citizens’ perspective, across quality of life, access, sustainability and perception.
“And in collaboration with institutions like the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Management and the World Bank, we are examining multimodal transport and first and last mile logistics,” he added.
Held in Bengaluru in India’s 2026 BRICS Presidency, the summit brings together 42 delegates, including heads of SAIs from BRICS member countries, to discuss audit topics of shared importance, exchange best practices and strengthen public financial oversight.
“Living Argument”
“There’s something particularly fitting about meeting here, in a city that India calls both its Silicon Valley and its Garden City. A city that writes the software that powers the world’s most advanced businesses and where a nurse boards an overcrowded bus that same morning for a ninety-minute commute to save lives where software can’t reach. Bengaluru, in this way, is not just an argument for the host.”
Published – 07 May 2026 20:20 IST
