Leveraging digital transformation for inter-departmental coordination and governance towards seamless digital delivery of citizen-centric urban services: Case of India

The digital urban transformation in India has witnessed significant strides, spurred by initiatives such as the Smart City Mission and the National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM). The paper contributes to the existing literature on assessing the maturity of digital delivery of urban services, providing recommendations for digital transformations and informing strategic decision-making at national, regional, and local levels. A thorough analysis of existing frameworks and assessments highlights their overarching nature which usually does not identify the gaps in on-ground digitalization efforts and hence, the key areas of intervention for efficient digital transformations. This paper presents the Version 1.0 of the NUDM Assessment Framework which examines the existing IT systems across for areas - service attribute, cost, operational and technological readiness, and evaluation. The assessment serves as a valuable tool to gauge lacunas in digitalization efforts and highlights the benefit of integrated digital urban service delivery. It advocates for a whole-of-systems approach to foster value co-creation and innovation. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need for a dedicated governance structure with adequate skill sets to achieve agile implementation through regular monitoring and develop insights for evidence-based reforms.