India's crowded cities may suggest that urbanisation is growing at a rapid pace. But the numbers suggest otherwise. The annual growth rate of urban population in India has actually dropped from 3.1 per cent during 1981-91 to 2.7 per cent during 1991-2001. This reinforces the declining trend of urbanisation in the country - in fact, the growth rate had decelerated even during the eighties compared to the all-time high growth of 3.8 per cent during 1971-81.