New Delhi, Mar 25 Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd (HUDCO), a Navratna NBFC–Infrastructure Finance Company under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), has launched the Urban Invest Window (UiWIN), a dedicated institutional platform to help Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) develop bankable, investment-ready urban infrastructure projects.
To operationalise the initiative, HUDCO held the first regional workshop on UiWIN on March 15–16, 2026. The workshop aimed to position UiWIN as a single-window mechanism for project preparation, financial structuring, asset monetisation and improved access to capital markets for cities.
Experts from institutions including NITI Aayog, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NaBFID), National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) participated in the discussions along with leading financial institutions and banks.
The workshop was inaugurated by Ponguru Narayana, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Other dignitaries included Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, MP from Ongole and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs; Srinivas Katikithala, Secretary, MoHUA; S. Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary (MA&UD), Andhra Pradesh; and Sanjay Kulshrestha, Chairman and Managing Director of HUDCO.
More than 150 officials from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Puducherry attended the workshop, representing ULBs, state departments and HUDCO.
Under UiWIN, HUDCO will provide end-to-end support to cities, including identification of bankable projects, DPR preparation, financial structuring, credit ratings, municipal bond support and pooled financing for smaller ULBs. The platform will also assist cities in accessing multilateral funding, structuring PPP projects and strengthening asset monetisation through dedicated UiWIN State Offices and Investment Support Units.
MoHUA Secretary Srinivas Katikithala said recent government initiatives place ULBs at the centre of India’s urban growth, highlighting the proposed Urban Challenge Fund of ₹1 lakh crore, which aims to leverage nearly ₹4 lakh crore in infrastructure investments.
HUDCO CMD Sanjay Kulshrestha said India will need to build in the next 20–25 years the scale of urban infrastructure developed over the past 75 years, as urban populations are expected to double. This will require significantly higher urban spending and stronger governance, particularly in Tier-II and Tier-III cities.
HUDCO also signed MoUs with several state government agencies to support coordinated planning and accelerate investment mobilisation for sustainable urban infrastructure in Tier-II cities.
The two-day workshop includes over 30 presentations focused on strengthening urban project pipelines, improving financial viability and attracting greater private and institutional investment in city infrastructure.
