Ministry
Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is the Government of India's apex authority for urban policy: town planning, urban housing, water supply and sanitation, urban transport and the finances of urban local bodies. It is the nodal ministry for India's flagship city programmes — the Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT, the urban Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and metro rail — and commands one of the Union Budget's larger capital lines, much of it for mass-transit and housing. Because most Indian urban infrastructure is co-financed and steered from this desk, it is a seat of power over how the country urbanises.
Updated
- Headquarters
- Nirman Bhawan, New Delhi
- Budget 2025-26
- Rs 96,777 crore (52% above 2024-25 revised estimate)
- Metro/MRTS share
- Rs 34,807 crore (about 36% of the ministry's budget)
- Operational metro network
- ~1,095 km, world's third-largest network (2025)
Role
The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is the Union government’s nodal ministry for how India’s towns and cities are planned, built, serviced and moved through. It formulates urban policy, co-finances the large city programmes that states and urban local bodies execute, and owns the central apparatus of public works and government estates. Its remit runs from water pipes and sewerage to affordable housing, from municipal solid waste to the metro corridors that reshape a city’s geography. Because Indian cities are governed by state governments and municipal bodies but funded and standard-set substantially from the Centre, this ministry is where national urban priorities are converted into money and design norms — its budget is dominated by mass-transit and housing.
Institutionally the ministry sits atop a cluster of powerful bodies: the Central Public Works Department, the Delhi Development Authority, the Land and Development Office, the Directorate of Estates, and the special-purpose vehicles and metro-rail companies that deliver its flagship missions. It runs AMRUT, the urban Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, the urban Swachh Bharat Mission, the national Metro Rail Policy and, until its closure in March 2025, the Smart Cities Mission. It is the desk that decides which cities get metro sanction, how urban housing subsidies are structured, and what “smart” or “liveable” urban infrastructure the Union pays for.
Desk maintained by IndiaStand editorial cycles. Officeholders are transient; this dossier tracks the institution.
Timeline since 1947
- reference
Ministry of Works, Housing & Supply established
The Union government created a dedicated works-and-housing ministry, the institutional ancestor of today's urban-affairs ministry, then focused on central public works and government accommodation.
- reference
Urban work split into two ministries
Urban functions were divided between a Ministry of Urban Development and a Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, separating infrastructure policy from slum and housing programmes.
- reference
Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT and urban PMAY launched
The government launched three flagship urban programmes on the same day: the Smart Cities Mission for 100 selected cities, AMRUT for basic urban infrastructure, and the urban Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana for affordable housing.
- reference
Two urban ministries merged into MoHUA; Metro Rail Policy issued
The Ministry of Urban Development and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation were merged to form the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and the government issued a national Metro Rail Policy setting appraisal and financing norms for metro projects.
- official
PMAY-Urban 2.0 approved
The Union Cabinet approved a second phase of the urban housing scheme with a stated target of about one crore additional houses over five years, implemented through four verticals including beneficiary-led construction and an interest-subsidy scheme.
- reference
Smart Cities Mission formally closed
After a decade and deadline extensions, the Smart Cities Mission was wound up; the ministry reported that more than 90% of its roughly 8,000 sanctioned projects were complete and that all 100 cities had operational Integrated Command and Control Centres.
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Delhi–Meerut Namo Bharat RRTS fully operational
The complete 82-km Delhi–Meerut corridor of India's first Regional Rapid Transit System, with a maximum operational speed of 160 km/h, was dedicated to the nation, extending the ministry's mass-transit remit beyond conventional metro.
Frequently asked
- What is Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs?
- The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is the Government of India's apex authority for urban policy: town planning, urban housing, water supply and sanitation, urban transport and the finances of urban local bodies. It is the nodal ministry for India's flagship city programmes — the Smart Cities Mission, AMRUT, the urban Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana and metro rail — and commands one of the Union Budget's larger capital lines, much of it for mass-transit and housing. Because most Indian urban infrastructure is co-financed and steered from this desk, it is a seat of power over how the country urbanises.
- When was Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs established?
- Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs was established 1952.
- What does Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs do?
- Its remit covers Urban development policy, town planning and urban land management, Urban housing, including the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), Urban water supply, sewerage and sanitation (AMRUT, Swachh Bharat Urban), Urban transport policy and metro rail (Metro Rail Policy, MRTS funding), The Smart Cities Mission and Integrated Command and Control Centres, Central public works, government estates and the National Capital's development.
- What is the latest on Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs?
- As of 2026-07-06: Delhi–Meerut Namo Bharat RRTS fully operational. The complete 82-km Delhi–Meerut corridor of India's first Regional Rapid Transit System, with a maximum operational speed of 160 km/h, was dedicated to the nation, extending the ministry's mass-transit remit beyond conventional metro.