The NITI-State Workshop on ‘Urban Data Ecosystems for Growth, Jobs and Service Delivery’, under the State Support Mission (SSM), was held on 20–21 November 2025 in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The SSM of NITI Aayog aims to foster structured and institutionalized engagement with States and Union Territories. The workshop marks a key milestone in enabling a bottom-up, evidence-based approach to achieving socio-economic goals for a Viksit Bharat@2047.
The primary objective of the workshop was to discuss how well-designed urban data ecosystems can help cities collect, integrate, and utilize data effectively. Such systems are critical for evidence-based policymaking, strategic planning, economic growth, job creation, and improving the efficiency and quality of urban service delivery.
Organized in collaboration with the Government of Madhya Pradesh and the World Bank, the workshop brought together over 100 participants from central and state governments, academia, and subject-matter experts. Eminent dignitaries included Anurag Jain, Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh; Srikanth Viswanathan, CEO of Janaagraha; and Sanjay Kumar Shukla, Additional Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh.
Anna Roy, Programme Director at NITI Aayog, highlighted that this was the third edition of the Data Forum. Anurag Jain emphasized the importance of future-ready urban data systems to support India’s rapidly growing cities, noting that national platforms like PM Gati Shakti and ULIP, along with GIS integration, have transformed decision-making processes.
A key highlight of the Forum was the launch of the City Data and Analytics Platform (CDAP), a dedicated micro-site of the National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP). CDAP offers cities a unified, user-friendly interface to access, analyze, and visualize high-quality urban datasets, empowering policymakers, researchers, and practitioners to make informed decisions, improve service delivery, and strengthen data-driven urban governance.
The workshop focused on four thematic areas: building strong urban data foundations, enabling cities as engines of growth and employment, enhancing participatory planning and service delivery, and leveraging frontier technologies such as AI and ML for real-time monitoring and decision-making. Best practices were shared by state representatives, central government officials, and global experts from the World Bank, highlighting strategies such as economic registers, sub-national growth estimation, and data-driven urban development models.
The Forum reinforced NITI Aayog’s commitment to advancing data-driven governance in India and emphasized the role of integrated urban data ecosystems in creating smart, sustainable, and inclusive cities.
