Indian Smart Cities Awards 2022 or ISAC under Smart Cities Mission (SCM), Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) were recently announced. Indore won first place in the National Smart City category, with Surat and Agra in second and third, respectively. Coimbatore became the first southern city to win in the Built Environment Category. Several projects were awarded as part of the SCM guideline to make cities liveable and sustainable. Has smart cities mission impacted people positively? Manisha Natarajan assesses the on-ground impact with winners and industry experts - Shalini Agarwal - Municipal Commissioner, Surat Municipal Corporation; M Prathap - Municipal Commissioner and CEO Smart City, Coimbatore and NSN Murthy - Partner Government Consulting Leader, Deloitte, India.