Despite some Indian states experiencing an increase in GDP, financial capacity, and subsidies from the government they haven't procured sufficient new buses to meet demand. 

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM) is a large-scale city-modernization scheme. It was launched by Government of India (2005-2012) with an aim to provide financial help to cities of India for upgrading their infrastructure and governance, aiming to invest over $20 billion over a 7-year period.

The NURM incorporated two sub-missions in its program:

1. BSUP (Basic Services to Urban Poor) and
2. UIG (Urban Infrastructure and Governance)

with a special stimulus package allocated for each of them under the 11^th five year plan of India (2007-2012).

The Ministry of Urban Development is the nodal agency under the Urban Development Department, Government of India, which sanctions the proposals received from Indian cities and directs the funds.

For the funding procedure, categorization of cities was done based on the population and the economic situation of each city. 63 plus cities of India were identified for eligibility of NURM funding.

Each city was put up into the special category for the funds division. The categorization details are as below:

(Source: Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India)

Almost all the states of India actively participated in the funding mission for various components like storm water, sanitation, water supply, urban poor housing, transportation etc.  A special program for funding buses to interested cities in India was also launched under this mission.

The funding was not limited to city buses only, but also extended to STUs (State Transport Undertakings) to procure buses.  A total of 15,260 city buses have been sanctioned till now and many states received funding for bus procurement.

A closer look at the statistics of participation from states in procuring buses gives an overall picture. The above chart shows which Indian states are serious about public transport and have benefited from the mission by obtaining funds and procuring large fleets of city buses, whether normal buses with left side doors or BRT buses with right side doors.

While states like Maharashtra are leading in procuring city buses, followed by Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh & Karnataka (these states procured more than 1000 buses), there are states which have almost negligible contribution towards city bus procurement, especially eastern & north-eastern states like Tripura, Sikkim, Nagaland, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal etc. (these states procured buses less than 120) whereas populated states and union territories like Bihar, Chattisgarh, Chandigarh, Goa, Orissa, Uttrakhand, Hariyana, Assam, Jharkhand, Punjab, Kerala etc. procured less than required. 

The above graph represents investments made by different states in procuring city buses and contribution of Government of India in it.

Delhi is the lead city in investing for public transport, followed by Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. 

If we compare these states with their population and economic profile (percentage share in the national GDP, GDP growth rate) with the percentage of city buses they have procured, the picture that is formed is shown in the graph below.

Populated states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, in spite of having appreciable growth rate and share in India's GDP, have procured fewer city buses compared to states like Maharashtra, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, which have bought more city buses comparatively.

Before the NURM mission, the overall budget allocation was assigned to states by the national government, from which only a few cities in any particular state benefitted. But in the NURM mission, cities had direct access to national funds via a state path. The most important mandate of this mission was to decentralize the power from state to cities for urban improvements - a very great achievement for India in last years.

Under the fund, cities could apply for help in various sectors: water treatment, sewage treatment, storm water drainage, construction of infrastructure, improving urban governance, houses for urban poor etc.  Urban transport is one such component under which city gets money from central government for brining on improvements in the sector. Some cities opted to buy a new fleet and add to existing ones. Some cities bought a new fleet and replaced old ones. But the overall demand for increased public transport wasn't found to be addressed.

It is evident that the states of India need to gear up and procure more city buses to overcome rising fuel demands and induce sustainable mobility by promoting bus based public transport, especially those which are highly populated.