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NITI Aayog's report 'Evaluation of Centrally Sponsored Schemes in Package 4 — Urban Transformation and Skill Development', published in September 2025, found the Smart Cities Mission strongly aligned with national urban priorities and contributing to several UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The evaluation recorded a 93% completion rate across 8,063 projects and 100% completion of Integrated Command and Control Centres.
As reported by States and UTs on 31 March 2026, 8,064 projects worth ₹1,64,811 crore were taken up under the Mission and 7,790 of them — 97% — worth ₹1,56,257 crore have been completed.
Physical outcomes include 100 ICCCs, more than 83,000 CCTV cameras, 1,300+ public-space projects, conservation of 484 heritage sites, market redevelopment in 58 cities, 17,000+ km of water supply network monitored through SCADA, and 1,700+ km of smart roads.
The Mission closed on 31 March 2025; MoHUA's Advisory No. 27 of 10 June 2025 asks the city Special Purpose Vehicles to finish ongoing projects, prepare O&M plans for the assets created and keep the ICCCs running, and sets out a repurposed future role for the SPVs.
Launched on 25 June 2015 by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to improve quality of life in 100 selected cities through area-based development and technology-led city management. Cities were selected through a competitive 'Smart City Challenge' rather than by allocation.
Key: Central assistance of ₹48,000 crore over five years — about ₹100 crore per city per year — with a matching contribution from the State/UT and Urban Local Body, giving a broadly 50:50 Centre-State funding pattern. Implementation runs through a city-level Special Purpose Vehicle. The Mission closed on 31 March 2025; as reported on 31.03.2026, 7,790 of 8,064 projects worth ₹1,56,257 crore were complete.
Give each Smart City a dedicated corporate entity to plan, appraise, approve, release funds for, implement, manage, operate, monitor and evaluate its projects, insulated from the ordinary municipal budget cycle.
Key: Each SPV is a limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 2013, promoted by the State/UT and the Urban Local Body with 50:50 equity between them. SPVs were created in all 100 Smart Cities. The model's standing criticism is that it shifts project decisions away from the elected municipal body, which is the constitutional institution of urban self-government.
A single city-level control room that aggregates data feeds — CCTV, traffic signals, waste-collection vehicles, water networks, emergency response — so that city functions can be monitored and coordinated from one place.
Key: 100 ICCCs established, the one component with 100% completion in the NITI evaluation. They cover crime monitoring, citizen safety, transport, waste, water and disaster management; monitor RFID-enabled waste-collection vehicles to improve routes and collection efficiency; and run Intelligent Traffic Management Systems. Their continued functioning after mission closure is specifically addressed in Advisory No. 27.
The other principal urban mission, launched on 1 October 2021 subsuming AMRUT 1.0, running from FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26.
Key: Aims at universal coverage of water supply — extending from 500 cities under AMRUT to about 4,900 statutory towns — and sewerage/septage management in 500 cities. Where SCM was area-based and confined to 100 cities, AMRUT 2.0 is service-based and near-universal; the pair is a standard comparison.
DMEO is the attached office of NITI Aayog that carries out scheme evaluation. It was constituted on 18 September 2015 by merging the erstwhile Programme Evaluation Organisation (PEO) and the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). The 'Package 4 — Urban Transformation and Skill Development' evaluation of September 2025 belongs to NITI Aayog's exercise of evaluating Centrally Sponsored Schemes in thematic packages.
Nodal ministry for the Smart Cities Mission and AMRUT. Issued Advisory No. 27 dated 10 June 2025 after mission closure, directing SPVs to complete ongoing projects, prepare operation and maintenance plans for assets created, keep ICCCs running and be repurposed to meet emerging urban challenges.
Limited companies under the Companies Act, 2013 with 50:50 equity between the State/UT and the Urban Local Body, one in each of the 100 Smart Cities, responsible for implementing and now for maintaining mission assets.
The constitutional institutions of urban self-government under Part IX-A of the Constitution, and joint promoters of the SPVs. The Twelfth Schedule assigns them 18 functional items — urban planning, water supply, public health, sanitation, solid waste management and so on — which map closely to what the Mission's projects deliver.
Gave constitutional status to urban local bodies by inserting Part IX-A ('The Municipalities'), Articles 243-P to 243-ZG, and came into force on 1 June 1993. It is the reason a Smart City SPV must be promoted jointly with the ULB rather than replacing it.
Added by the 74th Amendment; lists 18 functional items that may be entrusted to municipalities, including urban planning, water supply, public health and sanitation, solid waste management and urban poverty alleviation — the functional map onto which SCM outputs such as SCADA-monitored water networks and RFID-tracked waste vehicles fall.
The statute under which each Smart City SPV is incorporated as a limited company, with 50:50 equity between the State/UT and the ULB.
The post-closure instrument. It directs SPVs to complete ongoing projects, prepare O&M plans for created assets, sets out a roadmap for the continued functioning of ICCCs, and envisages repurposing SPVs for emerging urban challenges.
| Aspect | Smart Cities Mission | AMRUT 2.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Launched | 25 June 2015 | 1 October 2021 (subsuming AMRUT 1.0) |
| Coverage | 100 selected cities, chosen by competitive challenge | About 4,900 statutory towns for water supply; 500 cities for sewerage/septage |
| Approach | Area-based development plus a pan-city technology solution | Sector-based universal service coverage |
| Delivery vehicle | City-level Special Purpose Vehicle under the Companies Act, 2013 | Implemented through States/UTs and Urban Local Bodies |
| Signature output | 100 Integrated Command and Control Centres | Universal household water supply coverage |
| Status | Closed on 31 March 2025 | Mission period FY 2021-22 to FY 2025-26 |
Sustainable Development Goal 11 — make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable — is the goal NITI Aayog's alignment finding points to. India's 18 Twelfth Schedule municipal functions have been mapped to SDG indicators, so a municipal function, a mission output and a global target line up on the same activity.
Two completion figures appear in the same reply and they are not contradictory: 93% of 8,063 projects is what NITI Aayog's September 2025 evaluation found, while 97% of 8,064 projects is the position States and UTs reported as on 31 March 2026, six months later. Read the as-of date before comparing.
Built for traffic and utility monitoring, ICCCs were widely repurposed as war rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic — the practical argument the Ministry now makes for keeping them staffed and funded after mission closure.
The SPV is a company; the municipality is an elected body under Part IX-A. Placing implementation in the former was a deliberate choice for speed and ring-fenced finance, and the standing critique is that it dilutes the 74th Amendment's intent. Advisory No. 27's talk of 'repurposing' SPVs keeps that tension live.
GS Paper 2 > Government Policies and Interventions; GS Paper 2 > Devolution of Powers to Local Levels
General Awareness > Government Schemes and Polity
General Awareness > Current Affairs
Urban missions are asked regularly in prelims and are a standing mains theme on local governance.
Integrated Command and Control Centre — city-level control room aggregating CCTV, traffic, waste, water and emergency data; 100 established, the component with 100% completion.
Special Purpose Vehicle — a limited company under the Companies Act, 2013 with 50:50 State/UT and ULB equity, set up in each of the 100 Smart Cities to implement projects.
Development Monitoring and Evaluation Office, constituted 18 September 2015 as an attached office of NITI Aayog by merging the PEO and the IEO.
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition — the industrial monitoring system applied to 17,000+ km of water supply network to cut leakage and non-revenue water.
Added by the 74th Amendment; lists 18 functional items for municipalities.