Every decade, millions of new residents move into the ever-growing cities of India in search of a better livelihood. From a mere 13% urban dwellers in 1900, today the world is more urban than rural and by 2050, the global urban population is expected to be 6.3 billion (70% of total population.) On one hand cities are key sites of innovation and development, rapid urbanisation has also triggered urban sprawl, urban poverty and inequality, relatively high unemployment rates, higher and often exclusionary living costs, and environmental degradation. On the other hand, cities are also identified as critical sites of action to meet climate change and sustainability goals. Several researchers have identified nature-based solutions, more specifically urban agriculture (UA), as one of the key strategies to generate income and green jobs. However, scholarly literature regarding the implications of UA on livelihoods remains thin. A few available studies also iterate that the lack of policy and institutional support limits UA’s contribution to generating green jobs. Despite this limitation, numerous business models, enterprises, collectives, and individuals are emerging in cities. In this study, we attempted to examine the potential of such UA enterprises to generate green jobs and better livelihood opportunities in Indian cities. Using these findings, we aimed to unpack how current policies around livelihood generation can support UAbased interventions to foster a green livelihood strategy. We employed a qualitative approach to map and survey key UA businesses and enterprises in Pune and Bengaluru. We conducted an online survey (that garnered 441 responses) to understand how people perceived UA as an income generating opportunity. A secondary literature review and online research was followed by in-depth interviews with selected enterprises. Parallelly, we conducted a detailed review of current policies, to identify barriers and enablers for incorporating UA based green livelihood strategies in urban policies. We observed that several practitioners, entrepreneurs, and collectives offered unique opportunities to urban and peri-urban populations, while individuals continue to find ways to increase their income and save costs on food and health expenses. More specifically, social enterprises like Urban Mali and iKheti, business platforms like Farmizen and FarmFresh, offer several material benefits to their employees and suppliers. Collectives like Abhinav Farmers Club, a farmers’ collective based out of Pune generated over 700 direct jobs in supply of agricultural products, around 70% of whom are women working with various self-help groups in and around the Pune city. It also trains members in chemical-free farming practices, providing a green-skilling service. Anecdotal evidence also indicates that UA enterprise models help create new jobs, secure agriculture-based jobs, fill the demand-supply gap for organic/healthy food, and connect urban consumers to peri-urban farmers, offering jobs and skills of different kinds — managerial, technical, and manual. People with prior experience in farming can start UA with little training, but almost all these initiatives train them extensively and upskill them to practice urban agriculture in cities at different scales. Using such selected case examples, our study clearly demonstrates how UA offers a unique opportunity to create urban green spaces and grow one’s food while providing several material benefits like livelihood and income. Through our policy review we suggest that an explicit recognition of the potential of UA as a source of green/decent jobs (like horticulture, hydroponics, beekeeping, vermicomposting, so on so forth) within the NULM, Skill Mission, Vegetable Initiatives for Urban Clusters, and Urban Employment Schemes is imperative. Furthermore, tax benefits for entrepreneurs and subsidies through existing schemes — to set up farms, access inputs including seeds, organic fertilisers, tools — will only encourage more enterprises to venture into UA-related activities. In absence of substantial literature on UA generally and the engagement of the urban poor in UA specifically, our case study offers empirical data on some innovative ways that urban poor are benefitting from UA practices.