Strengthening the Capacities Cities Need to Work for All
A city’s financial and human resource capacity determines how effectively it can serve its citizens. This includes not just how much money and staff cities have, but how predictably resources flow, how transparently funds are managed, and how effectively personnel are organised and empowered.
Across India’s cities, these systems fall short. Financial resources are inadequate and unpredictable, transparency and accountability in public spending remain weak, and municipal staffing is poorly aligned with service delivery needs. Without these foundations, ULGs remain reactive and constrained. Janaagraha’s State Capacities work strengthens this operational backbone — building the finance and human resource systems that enable cities to govern effectively.
Impact Goal 7
Resource Augmentation
India’s cities are severely under-resourced relative to their needs. Constrained in raising own-source revenues and heavily reliant on intergovernmental transfers, they lack fiscal autonomy to address local priorities or make long-term strategic investments.
Janaagraha addresses this through a multi-pronged approach: increasing quantum of resources, improving grant design and management, reforming own-source revenues, and enhancing municipal creditworthiness to unlock additional funding.
Impact Goal 8
Fiscal Efficiency, Transparency, and Accountability
Across India’s cities, weak budget execution, limited absorptive capacity, and poor financial transparency compound the challenges of inadequate municipal resources. Urban local governments utilise only 61% of available funds, while financial information remains fragmented or unavailable.
Impact Goal 9
Improved Municipal Staffing and Performance Management
Municipal staffing systems in India are poorly aligned with the functions of urban local government. Persistent vacancies, outdated workforce assessments, and absent performance frameworks undermine service delivery in cities.
Janaagraha works to reorient human resource systems through competency-based frameworks, functional staffing assessments, and shared municipal services — so cities can plan, execute, and sustain the services citizens depend on.
Key Initiatives
Engagement with Finance Commissions
Finance Commissions (FCs) are a critical lever for urban fiscal reform as they define the quantum, design, and conditions of central grants to cities. Beginning with the XIII FC, Janaagraha has engaged with four successive FCs and contributed recommendations on urban grants, transparency, and accountability.
Most recently, we worked with the XVI Finance Commission, submitting two reports and co-hosting a first-of-its-kind national conference of mayors and chairpersons. The XVI Finance Commission’s final report, released in February 2026, reflects key recommendations from Janaagraha and data and analysis from CityFinance.in.
CityFinance.in
CityFinance.in is India’s first national platform for standardised, timely, and credible municipal finance data. Conceived, developed, and managed by Janaagraha in partnership with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, it was adopted by the XV Finance Commission as the mandated portal for grant disbursal — institutionalising municipal financial transparency at scale.
Over 95% of India’s 4,300+ urban local governments now publish audited accounts on CityFinance.in, which hosts 15,000+ financial statements and administers INR 1.08 lakh crore in Finance Commission grants. Cited in the Economic Survey of India 2023–24 and actively used by the RBI, CAG, NIPFP, and credit rating agencies, it has become an important and credible source of urban finance data in India.
Own-Source Revenue Reform
Robust own-source revenues are a critical prerequisite for financially sustainable cities. Property tax — one of the most significant sources of these revenues — remains severely under-utilised across India’s cities.
To unlock this potential, Janaagraha catalysed momentum for property tax reform: developing a national toolkit for states, supporting scheme design with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and engaging with Finance Commissions to link performance grants to revenue targets. Nine states have now implemented property tax valuation reforms. Nationally, property tax collections grew 50% — from INR 26,000 crore in FY 2018–19 to INR 39,000 crore in FY 2023–24.
Women in Public Finance Fellowship
Women remain significantly underrepresented in public financial management — a gap that shapes whose priorities inform how cities are funded, planned, and governed.
The Women in Public Finance (WPF) Fellowship addresses this gap by nurturing the next generation of women leaders in public finance through an immersive, two-year programme. Fellows work on live reform initiatives within Finance and Urban Development Departments across India’s states, and are supported by expert mentorship and peer learning. Cohort I (2024–26) placed 11 fellows across six states, working with partners including the CAG and the XVI Finance Commission. Cohort II is now under way alongside a Fellowship for Municipal Finance Officers in Assam and Telangana.
India Public Finance Collaborative
Strengthening public finance management in India requires collective action across government, civil society, and academia. The India Public Finance Collaborative (IPFC) was established to convene this ecosystem around a shared commitment to more accountable, citizen-centric public finance.
Janaagraha, alongside CEGIS and eGov Foundation, anchored the efforts to establish IPFC. With 25 members from 12+ organisations, the Collaborative builds shared knowledge, co-designs evidence-based reforms, and drives systemic change in how public finance works across India.
Odisha’s Digital Grants Management Dashboard
Urban grants in India flow through multiple agencies and financial systems, resulting in siloed financial data and limited real-time visibility into fund utilisation.
Janaagraha partnered with the Government of Odisha’s Housing and Urban Development Department to design and implement the Urban Grants Monitoring System — a dashboard that tracks real-time grant expenditure across all 115 urban local governments in Odisha. The system operates across four schemes, tracking over INR 3,000 crore and equipping state and city officials with the data they need for informed, responsive governance.
Municipal Shared Services Centre
India’s 4,000+ small cities face significant capacity constraints that inhibit effective service delivery. The Municipal Shared Services Centre model enables cities to pool specialised human resources and community infrastructure — within cities, across clusters of ULGs, and at state level.
Developed and piloted by Janaagraha, the model has been recognised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs through national guidelines and is funded by the XV Finance Commission, securing INR 225 crore in first instalment grants across 10 states. It offers cities a replicable model to enhance capacity, improve service delivery, and by extension, quality of life.
Competency-Based Human Resource Management in Odisha
India’s cities face capacity constraints across four dimensions — inadequate staffing levels, unclear roles and absent competency frameworks, inefficient organisational structures, and no systematic performance accountability. Together, these gaps create a persistent disconnect between what urban governments are staffed to do and what citizens need them to deliver.
Working with the Government of Odisha, Janaagraha applied a Competency-Based Human Resource Management framework across public works, sanitation, solid waste management, and water supply — mapping 329 activities, identifying approximately 60 unique positions, and developing competency and performance frameworks for each. Over 3,000 municipal personnel now work under structured frameworks, giving Odisha’s cities a stronger foundation for consistent, accountable service delivery.
Impact Highlights
Impact Highlights
15,000+ financial statements from 4,300+ cities hosted on CityFinance.in, with over 95% of India's urban local governments publishing audited accounts in standardised formats
50% growth in property tax collections nationally — from INR 26,000 crore to INR 39,000 crore — reflecting reform momentum Janaagraha helped catalyse
Over INR 3,000 crore in urban grants tracked in real time across 115 cities through Odisha's Urban Grants Monitoring System
3,000 municipal personnel in Odisha now work under structured competency and performance frameworks
Cohort 1 of Women in Public Finance Fellowship successfully completed, with 11 Fellows contributing to live reform projects across the country