Smart Cities Mission was an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...

with the mission to develop smart cities across the country, making them citizen-friendly and sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Development is responsible for implementing the mission in collaboration with the state governments of the respective cities. The mission was planned to include 100 cities, with the project completion deadline between 2019 and 2023. , 7479 out of a total of 8058 tendered projects have been completed, utilizing ₹150,002 crores out of the total tendered amount of ₹164,368 crore. In 2017, the Ministry of Urban Development was merged with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation to form the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). The project was officially shut down on March 31, 2025.

Description

Smart Cities Mission envisions developing areas within selected cities in the country as model areas based on an area development plan, which is expected to have a rub-off effect on other parts of the city and nearby cities and towns. Cities will be selected based on the Smart Cities challenge, where cities will compete in a countrywide competition to obtain the benefits from this mission. It is a five-year program in which financial aid will be given by the

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...

to the cities. The Ministry of Urban Development used a competition-based method as a means for selecting cities for funding. The state governments were asked to nominate potential cities with the overall count across India limited to 100. A hundred cities have been selected so far to be upgraded as part of the Smart Cities Mission. Each city will create a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) headed by a CEO to implement the projects under mission.

History

The mission was launched by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

on 25 June 2015. In the 2015 Union budget of India, was allocated for the smart cities mission. The mission was further allocated in the

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

, in

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and in the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. The project was extended and was allocated in the 2023 Union budget of India and a further in the 2023 Union budget of India. , a total of 7960 projects worth crore have been tendered. The project was officially shut down on March 31, 2025.

List of cities

In 2015, 98 cities were nominated for the smart cities challenge, based on a state-level competition. A hundred cities were supposed to be nominated but Jammu and Kashmir and

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

did not use one of their allotted slots. All the participating cities from

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, along with

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

and Navi Mumbai from

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, withdrew their nominations.

Selected cities

On 28 January 2016, a batch of 20 cities known as "lighthouse cities" were selected in the first round of the All India City Challenge competition for which an assistance of each during the first year followed by per year during the next three years was announced. 13 cities were added as an extension in May 2016. 27 cities were added in September 2016, 30 in June 2017, nine in January 2018 and one in June 2018.

References

{{Government Schemes in India Ministry of Urban Development Modi administration initiatives Urban planning in India Indian missions