Infrastructure, where our guest treats sewage

Digital planning at national scale

• PM GatiShakti. PM GatiShakti's digital planning platform held over 23,493 data layers by October 2026 and covers 58 central ministries and departments and all 36 states and union territories⁷.
• Project screening. By August 2026, PM GatiShakti's Network Planning Group had evaluated 396 infrastructure projects with a total estimated cost of about Rs 18.66 lakh crore⁸.
• Smart Cities. All 100 Smart Cities have operational Integrated Command and Control Centres, and by May 2025 7,555 of the mission's 8,067 projects (94%), worth Rs 1,51,361 crore, were complete⁹.

AI and digital twins in water, so far

• Delhi. Delhi Jal Board signed a non-financial, non-binding memorandum of understanding with IIT Kanpur's Airawat Research Foundation in November 2025 to apply AI and digital twin technology to water management, including real-time monitoring of water and sewage treatment plants¹⁰.
• Telecom. The Department of Telecommunications launched Sangam, a digital twin initiative, in February 2024 to demonstrate practical implementation of innovative infrastructure planning solutions using virtual replicas of physical assets¹¹.
• A startup. Watertech startup DigitalPaani raised Rs 22 crore in a round led by Navam Capital for its AI- and IoT-powered platform, which Inc42 reports serves more than 95 facilities across India, including sewage treatment plants, that together treat over 150 million litres of water a day¹².

What the budget sets aside

• Loans to states. The Union Budget 2026-27 has budgeted Rs 1,85,000 crore for special interest-free loans to states for capital expenditure; the revised estimate for 2025-26 is Rs 1,44,000 crore, against a budget allocation of Rs 1,50,000 crore¹³.
• Urban ministry. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs was allocated Rs 85,522 crore for 2026-27, 50% higher than its revised estimate for 2025-26¹⁴.
• Urban Challenge Fund. The Urban Challenge Fund is budgeted at Rs 10,000 crore for 2026-27, against Rs 1,000 crore at the revised estimate for 2025-26¹⁵.
• AMRUT. AMRUT was allocated Rs 8,000 crore for 2026-27, 7% higher than the revised estimate for 2025-26, when spending under the mission was estimated to be lower by 25% at the revised estimate stage¹⁶.

Budgeted versus spent in water and sanitation

• Jal Jeevan Mission. Jal Jeevan Mission, the rural tap-water programme, was allocated Rs 67,670 crore for 2026-27, 1% more than its 2025-26 budget estimate; in 2025-26 the revised estimate for spending on the scheme (Rs 17,000 crore) was 75% less than the budget allocation (Rs 67,000 crore)¹⁷.
• Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen). Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) was allocated Rs 7,192 crore for 2026-27, and its actual spending has been below budget every year since 2018-19¹⁸.

Who pays for city infrastructure

• Governments. Central and state governments finance over 75% of Indian city infrastructure, and only 5% of cities' infrastructure needs are financed from private sources, according to the World Bank¹⁹.
• Municipal bonds. Indian cities made nine municipal bond issues in 2025-26 up to December, against three the previous year and one the year before, Sebi data showed; total municipal bonds outstanding were Rs 3,783.9 crore at 31 December 2025²⁰.
• Bonds over time. PIB's ten-year review of AMRUT says 13 urban local bodies had raised Rs 4,984 crore through municipal bonds for urban infrastructure²¹.
• A bond incentive. The Budget 2026-27 speech proposed a Rs 100 crore incentive for a single municipal bond issue of more than Rs 1,000 crore, while the existing AMRUT scheme, which incentivises issues of up to Rs 200 crore, continues to support smaller and medium towns²².

Guarantees and private capital

• Risk guarantees. The Budget 2026-27 speech proposes an Infrastructure Risk Guarantee Fund to give lenders partial credit guarantees, and dedicated REITs to recycle real estate assets of central public sector enterprises²³.
• City loans. Alongside the Urban Challenge Fund, the Cabinet approved a Rs 5,000 crore Credit Repayment Guarantee Scheme, which will provide a central guarantee of up to Rs 7 crore or 70% of the loan amount for cities in north-eastern and hilly states and for urban local bodies with populations under one lakh in other states²⁴.
• A seed round. Hyderabad's Megaliter Varunaa raised Rs 15 crore in seed capital in October 2025 for what it describes as a zero-capital-expenditure, subscription-based model to turn sewage treatment plants into circular water utilities²⁵.

How big the need is

• Urban need. The World Bank estimated in 2022 that India would need to invest $840 billion in urban infrastructure over 15 years, an average of $55 billion a year²⁶.
• Cities to 2050. The World Bank estimated in 2025 that India's cities will need over $2.4 trillion by 2050 for new resilient, low-carbon infrastructure and services, with over half of the urban infrastructure needed by 2050 still to be built²⁷.
• Floods. The World Bank says annual pluvial flood-related losses in Indian cities that can be averted through timely adaptation can amount to $5 billion by 2030 and $30 billion by 2070²⁸.

Sewage treatment capacity, last national count

India's sewage treatment capacity (CPCB report, 2021, MLD)

A Central Pollution Control Board report released in 2021 found 31,841 MLD of installed sewage treatment capacity in India, of which 26,869 MLD had been developed and operationalised and 20,235 MLD was actually utilised²⁹.

Paying for operation, not just construction

Namami Gange adopted the Hybrid Annuity Model for sewage treatment plants to ensure responsible operation and maintenance, with a 17-year lifecycle (two years of construction, 15 of O&M) that spreads capital spending over the operating period³⁰.

PIB reported in January 2026 that sewage treatment capacity commissioned under the Namami Gange Programme had reached 3,976 MLD; recent projects at Shuklagunj and Agra were implemented under the Hybrid Annuity Model³¹.

What one state audit found

• Compliance. In eight test-checked Haryana districts, CAG found 26 sewage treatment plants and two common effluent treatment plants not complying with the state pollution control board's discharge standards for BOD and faecal coliform³².
• Tendering. A CAG audit of Haryana found that tenders for a 25 MLD sewage treatment plant for Naharpur-Kasan and Manesar in Gurugram district could not be finalised, statedly because of poor response and high rates offered by bidders, and the plant was completed in October 2025, more than two years late³³.
• Contract delivery. In Gurugram, a CAG audit found that one contractor had built only nine of the 21 micro sewage treatment plants it was contracted for, with one motor stolen and three plants working only in part, ThePrint reported in September 2026³⁴.