Some towns and cities specialise in certain functions and they are known for some specific activities, products or services. Indian cities and towns can be broadly classified as follows :
Administrative towns and cities : Towns supporting administrative headquarters of higher order are administrative towns, such as Chandigarh, New Delhi, Bhopal Shillong Guwahati, Imphal, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Chennai, etc.
Industrial towns : Industries constitute prime motive force of these cities such as Mumbai, Salem, Coimbatore, Modinagar Jamshedpur, Hugli, Bhilai, etc.
Transport Cities : They may be ports primarily engaged in export activities such as kandla, Kochchi, Kozhikode, Vishakhapatnam, etc. or hubs of inland transport such as Agra, Dhulia, Mughal Sarai, Itarsi, Katni, etc.
Commercial towns : Towns and cities specialising in trade and commerce are kept in this class. Kolkata, Saharanpur, Satna, etc. are some examples.
Mining towns : These towns have developed in mineral rich areas such as Raniganj, Jharia, Digboi, Ankaleshwar, Singrauli etc.
Garrisson Cantonment towns : These towns emerged as garrisson towns such as Ambala, Jalandhar, Mhow, Babina, Udhampur, etc.
Educational towns : Starting as centres of education, some of the towns have grown into major campus towns such as Roorki, Varanasi Aligarh, Pilani, Allahabad etc.
Religious and cultural towns : Varanasi, Mathura, Amritsar, Madurai, Puri, Ajmer, Pushkar, Tirupati, Kurukshetra, Haridwar, Ujjain came to prominence due to their religious/cultural significance.
Tourist towns : Nainital, Mussoorie, Shimla, Pachmarhi, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Udagamandalam (Ooty), Mount Abu are some of the tourist destinations.
The functions change due to their dynamic nature.
