Editing Openai/6931a452-c318-8006-9565-7cb830d6c2a7 (section)

==== 8. Caveats (so you know what’s “approx” and what’s solid) ====
* Years don’t perfectly line up. Most civic budgets are 2023-24, some (Coimbatore) are 2022-23, and for Delhi MCD I had to use 2024-25 because that’s the clearest published number. On the denominator side, states’ aggregate (₹47.6 lakh crore) is FY23, Union is FY24 (BE).
* Development authorities vs municipalities. For Noida/Greater Noida, we’re using Noida Authority + GNIDA, which are industrial development authorities, not classic municipalities. Including them inflates the city-side total a bit, if anything.
* GVMC number is approximate. The source literally says “annual budget of nearly ₹5,000 crore”; I’ve taken ₹5,000 crore at face value. The Times of India<ref>{{cite web|title=The Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vijayawada/gvmc-maintains-prudent-fiscal-path-with-strong-revenue-growth/articleshow/122254931.cms|publisher=The Times of India|access-date=2025-12-04}}</ref>
* Centre+state combined is an estimate. There isn’t a single “official” consolidated BE number in one line item; I’ve added (a) Union total expenditure and (b) best available aggregate state expenditure from RBI/SBI-type sources.

Given those caveats, 1.6% should be read as a good ballpark, not a sacred number. Real value is probably somewhere in the 1.3–2.0% range, but nowhere near 5–10%.

If you want, next step could be: pick one benchmark year (say 2022-23), line up all 15 cities’ 2022-23 budgets only, and recompute to tighten the estimate.