Abstract
This paper examines two recent additions to India’s urban development paradigm—the Urban Challenge Fund (UCF) and City Economic Regions (CERs). The Union Budget 2025–26 introduced the UCF, with a ₹1 lakh crore corpus to position cities as growth hubs, followed by CER, offering seven city clusters ₹5,000 crore each over five years through a reform and results-based ‘challenge mode’ financing mechanism. This paper examines the policy frameworks of the UCF and CER and evaluates how they fit into broader trends in India’s urban development policy and engage with questions of social and democratic inclusion. It traces UCF and CER against earlier programmes like the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, and the Smart Cities Mission, and institutional formations such as Special Economic Zones, Industrial Townships, and Special Purpose Vehicles. The paper argues that UCF and CER are market-based, reform-linked financing instruments that extend the recalibration of state power set forth by India’s urban economic growth-driven development strategy.
Recommended Citation
Idiculla, Mathew
(2026)
"India's New Urban Development Regime and the Mirage of Inclusion: The Urban Challenge Fund and City Economic Regions,"
Journal of Law and Public Policy: Vol. 10:
Iss.
1, Article 2.
Available at:
https://repository.nls.ac.in/jlpp/vol10/iss1/2