Prioritizing and minimizing Non-Revenue Water (NRW) commands least attention for those in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)/Water Boards (WBs) in India. NRW management critically affects the ULBs/ WBs in terms of minimizing the debt burden and preventing revenue losses. Acknowledging the significance of NRW, recently, the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) has given high priority for the reduction of NRW under the government’s flagship program, the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Water demand in urbanized India is forecasted to increase from 31% in the year 2000 to 42% by 2025 and 61% by 2050 (Amarasinghe et al., 2007). Compared to the developed countries where NRW is in the range of 10- 20%, and in exceptional cases, as low as 5% (Germany 7%, UK < 5%), the developing countries exhibit exceptionally high NRW figures. Except Japan, the NRW levels in South Asia are estimated to be more than 40%. This paper begins with a global and Asian perspective of NRW using secondary data, followed by a discussion on NRW with reference to India and Indian cities. Using the annual financial statement data of key metropolitan cities of Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and Pune, an attempt is made to compute NRW losses arising out of coverage, metering and cost recovery issues. Correlation analysis was performed to find the relation between lower NRW and higher operating revenues. The paper also estimates the revenue loss per day in the four cities due to NRW, and the implications of NRW for city managements.

Water plays a crucial role in human infrastructure, agriculture and industry. However, the 20th century saw a massive increase in demand for fresh water as a result of the expansion of human population as well as industry and urbanization. This rising level of competition for water is now directly contributing to a global shortage. The UN estimates that over one billion people currently lack access to clean drinking water and more than double that do not have proper sanitation (United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), 2000). A report issued by the World Economic Forum in the year 2009 forecasts that this problem could well result in economic as well as geopolitical conflict, especially in countries like Asia which are in the phase of rapid economic development, urbanization and population growth.

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