India’s National Urban Governance Platform
Authored by Jordyn Fetter and David Eaves

14 January 2025
India’s National Urban Governance Platform: Leveraging digital infrastructure thinking to build smart city capabilities at scale | UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP) | Case Study No.1.
Authors:
- Jordyn Fetter | MPA 22/23 Alumna | UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
- David Eaves | Associate Professor and Deputy Director | UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose
Case Summary:
Location and time period
2015-2019 India
The policy problem
Many Indian cities are faced with the challenge of rising populations amidst a lack of physical infrastructure elements such as water and electricity supply, sanitation, and urban transport. This is further exacerbated by missing IT infrastructure which could be leveraged at the state- and city-level to improve service delivery to residents. In 2019, Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary and Mission Director of the Smart Cities Mission, supported a new digital infrastructure-oriented solution to this capacity challenge by leveraging India Stack1 and the biometric ID system Aadhaar. But for a country with a federated government system, how to provision a highly scalable platform from the national level to states and cities became a big question for the Indian Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and National Institute for Urban Affairs-Centre for Digital Governance (NIUA-CDG) to grapple with.
Main topics/themes in this case
- Digital Public Infrastructure
- State Capacity
- Service Delivery
- Smart Cities
Read this case if you…
- Are seeking lessons on overcoming the hurdles of implementing large-scale digital initiatives, including tackling ownership issues, infrastructure gaps, and resourcing.
- Want to understand the dynamics of public-private collaboration in creating and sustaining digital infrastructure, with insights on how such partnerships can accelerate innovation and reach.
- Want to explore how a digital public infrastructure approach may transform service delivery.
Reference:
This case study can be referenced as follows: Fetter, J., and Eaves, D. (2025). India’s National Urban Governance Platform: Leveraging digital infrastructure thinking to build smart city capabilities at scale. Case Study No.1. Available at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/CS-01