I'm afraid you are right but people in India don't seem to care. I go there every year and life there compared to 10 years ago is night and day. Even in cities that are further away from the big 4 (e.g. north of New Delhi, even in Himachal Pradesh which used to be very clean as the Himalayas start there) have an extremely visible layer of smog, especially in winters. Pollution is pretty bad and water shortage is becoming more common. But surprisingly, neither the government there or the public seem to treat this as a top national emergency. This may sound elitist, but I consider New Delhi an unlivable city.
It's a difficult tradeoff. Economic development seems to be the only parameter that matters, especially when there are so many in poverty.
Some all time top posts on r/urbanhell are from India (UNPLEASANT IMAGERY WARNING):
https://i.redd.it/n8sdntzy8bb11.jpg
https://i.redd.it/y7i3lb94b1021.jpg
(River Yamuna. This river was reasonably clean 20 years ago but now you can see this terrible foam from the pollution and intense garbage disposal into the rivers. And yes, that's people praying, as Yamuna is considered one of the holy rivers)