  We undertake an exploration of the economic income (Gross Domestic Product,
GDP) of Indian districts and cities based on scaling analyses of the dependence
of these quantities on associated population size. Scaling analysis provides a
straightforward method for the identification of network effects in
socioeconomic organization, which are the tell-tale of cities and urbanization.
For districts, a sub-state regional administrative division in India, we find
almost linear scaling of GDP with population, a result quite different from
urban functional units in other national contexts. Using deviations from
scaling, we explore the behavior of these regional units to find strong
distinct geographic patterns of economic behavior. We characterize these
patterns in detail and connect them to the literature on regional economic
development for a diverse subcontinental nation such as India. Given the
paucity of economic data for Urban Agglomerations in India, we use a set of
assumptions to create a new dataset of GDP based on districts, for large
cities. This reveals superlinear scaling of income with city size, as expected
from theory, while displaying similar underlying patterns of economic geography
observed for district economic performance. This analysis of the economic
performance of Indian cities is severely limited by the absence of
higher-fidelity, direct city level economic data. We discuss the need for
standardized and consistent estimates of the size and change in urban economies
in India, and point to a number of proxies that can be explored to develop such
indicators.
