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: Mumbai's urban policy sloth has received a Supreme Court-administered shock. The court’s clearance on razing and reconstruction of the city’s 16,000-plus dilapidated buildings, some dating back to pre-1940s, should be a hugely positive boost for the city. More broadly, and even more crucially, the apex court upheld the Maharashtra Housing & Area Development Authority’s amended Development Control Rule 33(7) of 1999, which most importantly does away with ridiculously restrictive requirements on the Floor Space Index (FSI). The Bombay High Court had earlier overruled this amendment. The FSI is the ratio of the total floor area in building to the total area of the plot on which the building is constructed. So, FSI basically sets a limit on the number of floors a building can have. Mumbai’s FSI till the 1970s used to be around 4 in some areas (at Nariman Point), but then started declining after the Land Ceiling Act—it is an incredible 1.33 now. Under the new rules, it will once again go above 2.5. Even this is too low by international standards. Manhattan in New York has an FSI of 30, Dubai between 8 and 34 and Hong Kong between 8 and 20. Mumbai’s FSI is low by Indian standards as well—in Gurgaon FSI ranges between 2.5 and 4 and in Bangalore it’s 3.25. Andhra Pradesh has no restrictions. It defies logic that Mumbai, the most densely populated city in India and set in a small island area, should not allow buildings to be much higher—the city, unlike some others in India can only grow vertically not horizontally. Housing in Mumbai leaves much to be desired—it is of poor quality (think the number of chawls), expensive and supply has a long lag time. Higher FSI is critical.