Extreme heat in cities poses significant health risks, is amplified by urban heat island effects and disproportionately impacts vulnerable populations. Anthropogenic climate change has led to heatwaves in India increasing in frequency and duration. To address growing heat intensities and their health impacts, heat action plans (HAPs) have emerged as a key planning instrument for heat governance. This paper uses a benchmarking approach to conduct an assessment of 8 city level HAPs from India in terms of the eight core elements identified by WHO/Europe as crucial components to heat-health action. We have mapped the representation of core elements across the city-level HAPs to determine the plan’s coverage and extent of development of each element and its sub-elements. The text in the documents  corresponding to the core elements was also analysed.. The HAPs varied in design and scope, with core elements that require long-term institutional and/or intersectoral planning and implementation receiving least attention. These elements included care for vulnerable populations, health system preparedness, long-term urban planning, and surveillance of health outcomes. The study identifies the dominant framing of the issue of heat as a time-limited disaster event (namely ,a heatwave) as a significant barrier in designing HAPs that are responsive to local contexts and presents long-term measures required to shape structural drivers of differential vulnerabilities. In conclusion, a paradigm shift from solely top-down disaster management to coupling with decentralised, community-informed management,  is essential to effectively address heat-related health risks in both the immediate and the long-term.