Launched in June 2015 under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) has, over 10 years, substantially strengthened urban water and sanitation infrastructure across India. By September 2025, the programme, across AMRUT and AMRUT 2.0, has delivered large-scale expansion of water and sewer networks, upgraded treatment capacity, and introduced financing and technology measures to improve service delivery.
Ten years later, AMRUT marks not only the scale of infrastructure delivered but also the evolution of a new model of technology-enabled governance, as well as sustainable financing that has reshaped the urban development landscape.
Water supply: Universal access and network expansion
The mission’s most viable achievement lies in water supply. At its core, the mission aims to ensure at least 135 litres per capita per day (lpcd) of water access to all urban households. This required not only augmenting water networks, but also upgrading water treatment plants, along with universal metering and rejuvenation of waterbodies. It has made special provisions for challenging geographies such as hills, coastal towns and water quality-affected areas.
Making significant progress, as of July 2025, AMRUT, along with other schemes, has successfully provided 18.9 million new and serviced tap water connections, surpassing the target of 13.9 million connections. More importantly, this expansion has translated into a visible rise in coverage: from just under 50 per cent of urban households in 2011 to an estimated 70 per cent in 2025. This growth is supported by a large water supply network of over 73,500 km of pipelines and the creation comprising over 4,900 million litres per day (mld) of water treatment capacity.
Sewerage and septage management: Expanding urban sanitation
The sewerage and septage segment of the mission prioritises decentralised and networked sewerage systems through augmentation and rehabilitation, promotes used-water recycling and reuse, and ensures cost-effective faecal sludge and septage management (FSSM). It also emphasises the mechanical and biological cleaning of sewers and septic tanks with full operational cost recovery.
Charting achievements under this mission domain, as of July 2025, 14.9 million new and serviced sewer connections have been provided, including households covered by FSSM, against the target of 14.5 million. Further, the sewer network has been scaled to more than 21,750 km, coupled with the development of sewerage treatment capacity exceeding 4,600 mld, including about 1,430 mld for wastewater recycle and reuse. The recent completion of 890 sewerage and septage management projects worth around Rs 345 billion further underlines the strong emphasis on strengthening urban sanitation infrastructure under this segment.
The emphasis on reuse has also been critical in addressing water stress in many Indian cities, where treated wastewater is now being channelled for industrial and agricultural purposes, easing pressure on freshwater sources.
Stormwater drainage: Building resilient cities
Urban flooding has emerged as one of the most visible climate-related risks facing Indian cities. The stormwater drainage (SWD) component of AMRUT aims to construct and upgrade drains to effectively channel rainwater into clean waterbodies, reduce sewage contamination and mitigate urban flooding. The progress has been tangible. As of July 2025, the mission has enabled the construction of more than 1,450 km of stormwater drains, eliminating about 3,760 chronic waterlogging points. The progress is evident with 809 projects worth around Rs 24 billion achieving completion, alongside 838 approved projects worth approximately Rs 30 billion.
Evolution of funding mechanisms
Financing has been one of AMRUT’s most notable areas of innovation. While central and state allocations remain the backbone of funding, the mission has progressively encouraged cities to access market-based financing to build financial resilience.
Between 2022-23 and 2024-25, a consolidated sum of around Rs 37 billion has been released for projects to states under AMRUT. More recently, funds amounting to Rs 100 billion have been allocated to the programme in 2025-26. Apart from these central allocations, the mission has started encouraging reliable financing mechanisms like municipal bonds. Under this innovative funding approach, urban local bodies (ULBs) are eligible for an incentive of Rs 130 million for every Rs 1 billion of bonds issued, subject to a ceiling of Rs 260 million per ULB. Additionally, to encourage green financing, a second incentive is available exclusively for the issuance of green bonds, providing Rs 100 million for every Rs 1 billion issued, capped at Rs 200 million per ULB.
The adoption of these financing mechanisms is still at a nascent stage, but the incentives under AMRUT have been encouraging a structural shift towards municipal bonds. The mobilisation of about Rs 54 billion through municipal and green bonds by 18 ULBs as of August 7, 2025 exemplifies this shift. Further, in August 2025, the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation issued a green bond worth Rs 1.5 billion, for which MoHUA has released an incentive of Rs 195 million.
Governance and technology: Embedding smart systems
AMRUT ensures effective project implementation through a robust institutional framework that strengthens accountability and transparency. States and union territories (UTs) have flexibility in project selection, guided by steering committees, while MoHUA ensures accountability and support. A dedicated online portal of the mission enables real-time tracking, further reinforcing accountability in project delivery.
AMRUT has reshaped the design of urban missions by embedding cooperative federalism at its core. Unlike earlier approaches, where the Ministry of Urban Development approved projects individually, AMRUT introduced a flexible, bottom-up framework that empowers states and UTs to design initiatives suited to local needs while staying aligned with national priorities. This shift was operationalised through the adoption of state annual action plans (SAAPs), which outline year-wise improvements in household water supply and sewerage connections. As of June 2025, SAAPs worth around Rs 780 billion have been approved under the mission, including committed assistance of approximately Rs 360 billion. This reflects substantial collaborative financial backing by the central and state governments for developing water infrastructure in urban areas.
Complementing this existing governance framework, AMRUT has started embedding technology-driven smart elements to enhance efficiency and service delivery. In water and sewerage systems, the installation of sensors, internet of things-based devices and smart meters is improving monitoring, leak detection and billing, while SWD systems deploy real-time tracking to reduce flood risks. The recent use of geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing and dashboards is further enabling data-driven decision-making. GIS-based master plans have also been mandated under the programme to plan the water network and other services properly. Tracing progress, as of June 2025, 231 AMRUT cities have prepared mandatory GIS-based master plans covering nearly 100,000 square km. Consequently, these 231 cities are better positioned to plan water infrastructure and optimise resources.
To further improve infrastructure reliability, AMRUT guidelines mandate the use of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems in water supply and sewerage projects. As of August 18, 2025, around 230 water supply projects and 146 sewerage projects have been implemented with SCADA. In addition, the AMRUT Technology Challenge has promoted innovative solutions to reduce manual entry into sewers and septic tanks, improving both safety and efficiency.
Future outlook
AMRUT has significantly strengthened urban water infrastructure over the past decade, yet its long-term impact will depend on sustained implementation and continuous efforts to promote water-secure, sustainable urban development.
To carry forward this legacy and deliver improved outcomes, AMRUT 2.0, launched in October 2021, has expanded the mission’s scope to all ULBs across the country, with a focus on universal water supply, used-water reuse, sewerage and septage management, and rejuvenation of waterbodies. It integrates innovative initiatives such as AMRUT Mitra, Jal Hi Amrit and Drink-from-Tap, which aim to leverage existing infrastructure for enhanced service delivery.
As the next phase of this mission, AMRUT 2.0 tackles past challenges by promoting community participation, incentivising sewage treatment plant innovation and ensuring 24×7 water supply. As of June 2025, AMRUT has strengthened water governance through over 10,000 women-led self-help groups, delivered safe water to 800,000 residents via 381 Drink-from-Tap projects worth around Rs 235 billion, and advanced sustainability with 3,032 approved water rejuvenation projects. With training for more than 90,000 personnel, the mission aims to integrate innovation, inclusivity and sustainability, building water-secure cities for the future.
As AMRUT completes its first decade, it has already laid the foundation for water-secure cities. The task now is to ensure that this foundation translates into reliable, equitable and sustainable service delivery for millions of urban residents in the decades ahead.
