Broadly speaking, local bodies are institutions of the local self governance, which look after the administration of an area or small community such as villages, towns, or cities. The Local bodies in India are broadly classified into two categories.

The local bodies constituted for local planning, development and administration in the rural areas are referred as Rural Local Bodies (Panchayats) and the local bodies, which are constituted for local planning, development and administration in the urban areas are referred as Urban Local Bodies (Municipalities).

In other words, local body is a body representing the local inhabitants, possessing fairly large autonomy, raising at least a part of its revenue through local taxation and spending its income on services which are regarded as local and, therefore, distinct from state and central services.