# Smart Cities Mission

National Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of India 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. As of January 2025, 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).

## 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 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 Narendra Modi on 25 June 2015. In the 2015 Union budget of India, ₹2,020 crore (US$230 million) was allocated for the smart cities mission. The mission was further allocated ₹3,215 crore (US$370 million) in the 2016, ₹4,000 crore (US$460 million) in 2017, ₹6,169 crore (US$710 million) in 2018, ₹6,450 crore (US$740 million) in 2019, ₹6,136 crore (US$700 million) in 2020 and ₹6,118 crore (US$700 million) in the 2021. The project was extended and was allocated ₹14,100 crore (US$1.6 billion) in the 2023 Union budget of India and a further ₹16,000 crore (US$1.8 billion) in the 2023 Union budget of India. As of September 2023, a total of 7960 projects worth ₹171,432 crore (US$20 billion) crore have been tendered.

## 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 did not use one of their allotted slots. All the participating cities from West Bengal, along with Mumbai and Navi Mumbai from Maharashtra, withdrew their nominations.
List of nominated cities (2016) :
| State/UT | Count | Cities |
| Uttar Pradesh | 13 | Agra, Aligarh, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Jhansi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Moradabad, Prayagraj, Rampur, Raebareli, Saharanpur, Varanasi |
| Tamil Nadu | 12 | Chennai, Coimbatore, Dindigul, Erode, Madurai, Salem, Thanjavur, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur, Vellore |
| Maharashtra | 8 | Amravati, Aurangabad, Kalyan-Dombivali, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune, Solapur, Thane, |
| Karnataka | 7 | Belagavi, Bengaluru, Davanagere, Hubbali-Dharwad, Mangaluru, Shimoga, Tumakuru, |
| Madhya Pradesh | 7 | Indore, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Gwalior, Sagar, Satna, Ujjain, |
| Gujarat | 6 | Ahmedabad, Dahod, Gandhinagar, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara |
| Andhra Pradesh | 4 | Amaravati, Kakinada, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam |
| Bihar | 4 | Bhagalpur, Biharsharif, Muzaffarpur, Patna |
| Rajasthan | 4 | Ajmer, Jaipur, Kota, Udaipur |
| Chhattisgarh | 3 | Bilaspur, Naya Raipur, Raipur |
| Punjab | 3 | Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana |
| Kerala | 2 | Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram |
| Haryana | 2 | Faridabad, Karnal |
| Odisha | 2 | Bhubaneshwar, Rourkela |
| Sikkim | 2 | Gangtok, Namchi |
| Telangana | 2 | Karimnagar, Warangal |
| Arunachal Pradesh | 1 | Pasighat |
| Assam | 1 | Guwahati |
| Goa | 1 | Panaji |
| Himachal Pradesh | 1 | Dharamshala |
| Jharkhand | 1 | Ranchi |
| Manipur | 1 | Imphal |
| Meghalaya | 1 | Shillong |
| Mizoram | 1 | Aizawl |
| Nagaland | 1 | Kohima |
| Tripura | 1 | Agartala |
| Uttarakhand | 1 | Dehradun |
| Andaman and Nicobar Islands | 1 | Port Blair |
| Chandigarh | 1 | Chandigarh |
| Dadra and Nagar Haveli | 1 | Silvassa |
| Daman and Diu | 1 | Diu |
| Delhi | 1 | New Delhi |
| Jammu and Kashmir | 1 | Srinagar |
| Lakshadweep | 1 | Kavaratti |
| Puducherry | 1 | Oulgaret |

### 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 ₹200 crore (US$23 million) each during the first year followed by ₹100 crore (US$11 million) 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.
List of selected cities :
| Phase | Year | Count | Cities |
| Phase I | January 2016 | 20 | Bhubaneswar, Pune, Jaipur, Surat, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Jabalpur, Visakhapatnam, Solapur, Davangere, Indore, New Delhi, Coimbatore, Kakinada, Belagavi, Udaipur, Guwahati, Chennai, Ludhiana, Bhopal |
| Phase I (Ext.) | May 2016 | 13 | Chandigarh, Bhagalpur, Faridabad, Lucknow, Raipur, Ranchi, Dharamasala, Warangal, Panaji, Agartala, Imphal, Port Blair |
| Phase II | September 2016 | 27 | Amritsar, Kalyan, Ujjain, Tirupati, Nagpur, Mangalore, Vellore, Thane, Gwalior, Agra, Nashik, Rourkela, Kanpur, Madurai, Tumakuru, Kota, Thanjavur, Namchi, Jalandhar, Shimoga, Salem, Ajmer, Varanasi, Kohima, Hubli-Dharwad, Aurangabad, Vadodara |
| Phase III | June 2017 | 30 | Thiruvananthapuram, Naya Raipur, Rajkot, Amaravati, Patna, Karimnagar, Muzaffarpur, Puducherry, Gandhinagar, Srinagar, Sagar, Karnal, Satna, Bengaluru, Shimla, Dehradun, Jhansi, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Bilaspur, Pasighat, Jammu, Dahod, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Tiruppur, Aizawl, Prayagraj, Aligarh, Gangtok |
| Phase IV | January 2018 | 10 | Erode, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Bareilly, Itanagar, Silvassa, Diu, Kavaratti, Bihar Sharif |
| Phase IV (Ext.) | June 2018 | 1 | Shillong |