In India, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), also called municipalities, are self-government institutions responsible for the administration of cities, towns, and transitional areas within a state or Union Territory. The 74th amendment to the Constitution of India in 1992 provided constitutional framework for the establishment of Urban Local Bodies.

There are three types of Urban Local Bodies in India, which include municipal corporations governing large urban areas, municipal councils governing smaller urban areas, and nagar panchayats governing transitional areas from rural to urban. They are established by individual state governments and can differ in names, election method, or tier structure. The classification of these areas is at the discretion of the states, considering factors such as total population, population density, non-agricultural employment, annual revenue generation, among other criteria.

Municipal governance in India in its current form has existed since the year 1664. In 1664, Fort Kochi Municipality was established by the Dutch, making it the first municipality in the Indian subcontinent, which got dissolved when Dutch authority got weaker in the 18th century. The British followed with the formation of Madras Municipal Corporation in 1687, and then Calcutta and Bombay Municipal Corporation in 1726. In the early part of the nineteenth century almost all towns in India had experienced some form of municipal governance. In 1882 the then Viceroy of India, Lord Ripon, known as the Father of Local Self Government, passed a resolution of local self-government which lead the democratic forms of municipal governance in India.

In 1919, a Government of India Act incorporated the need of the resolution and the powers of democratically elected government were formulated. In 1935 another Government of India Act brought local government under the preview of the state or provincial government and specific powers were given.

It was the 74th amendment to the Constitution of India in 1992 that brought constitutional validity to municipal or local governments. Until amendments were made in respective state municipal legislations as well, municipal authorities were organised on an ultra vires (beyond the authority) basis and the state governments were free to extend or control the functional sphere through executive decisions without an amendment to the legislative provisions.

As per the 2011 Census, the key urbanised areas were classified as follows

Statutory towns are of various kinds and the major categories include

The municipal corporations and municipalities are fully representative bodies, while the notified area committees and town area committees are either fully or partially nominated bodies. As per the Constitution of India, 74th Amendment Act of 1992, the latter two categories of towns are to be designated as municipalities or Nagar panchayats with elected bodies.