The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs,
chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved
12 new project proposals last month, under the National
Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP).
This decision entails an estimated investment of
`28,602 crore and aims to establish a network of
industrial nodes and cities. These 12 industrial areas,
located across 10 states and planned along six major
corridors, are expected to support India鈥檚 manufacturing
capabilities and contribute to economic growth. Given the
mandate for creation of jobs and increase in contribution
of manufacturing to the GDP, this is significant. The
NICDP began with the launch of the Delhi-Mumbai
Industrial Corridor (DMIC), which was incorporated as
DMICDC in January 2008. I had then met Amitabh Kant,
who was the CEO of DMIC. He had prepared master
plans of all cities that would be rolled out under DMIC.
These industrial smart cities being built along the
Dedicated Freight Corridor included:
1. Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) in Gujarat;
2. Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Area (SBIA) near
Aurangabad, Maharashtra;
3. Manesar-Bawal Investment Region (MBIR) in Haryana;
4. Khushkhera-Bhiwadi-Neemrana Investment Region
(KBNIR) in Rajasthan;
5. Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow Investment Region (PDMIR) in
Madhya Pradesh;
6. Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region (DNGIR)
in Uttar Pradesh;
7. Dighi Port Industrial Area (DPIA) in Maharashtra.
The DMIC is strategically built around the Western
Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC). The WDFC serves as
a backbone for the DMIC, facilitating efficient
transportation of goods between the industrial hubs along
the corridor and major ports in Mumbai. But both the
Dedicated Freight Corridor and the DMIC are still only
around 90 per cent complete. The fruits of this
development will remain unutilised and provide
suboptimal results for our investments until this project
attains 100 per cent completion.
In February 2020, DMICDC Ltd was renamed
the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation
(NICDC) Ltd. The current announcement includes the
following: Khurpia, Uttarakhand; Gaya, Bihar; Rajpura-
Patiala, Punjab; Zaheerabad, Telangana; Dighi,
Maharashtra; Orvakal, Andhra Pradesh; Palakkad,
Kerala; Kopparthy, Andhra Pradesh; Agra, Uttar Pradesh;
Jodhpur-Pali, Rajasthan and Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Efforts are to be directed towards project completion
for deriving full value from the investment made. As per CMIE, completion of investment projects suffered a steepfall in the quarter ended June 2024. Only 316 projects with
a combined investment of Rs.353 billion were completed
during this quarter. Even announcements on setting up
factories, building roads, and other new projects fell below
the Rs.1 trillion mark, according to data for the April-June
quarter (Q1) of 2024-25. The Q1 figure of Rs.60,000 crore
is 92 per cent lower than the Rs.7.9 trillion recorded in the
year-ago quarter, shows CMIE data. However, project
announcements suffered mainly owing to the code of
conduct and general elections. Recently three major railway
infrastructure projects, totalling 296 km in length, have
been greenlit at an estimated cost of Rs.6,456 crore. Kaynes
Semicon Facility in Sanand, Gujarat, has been approved to
establish a semiconductor unit for Rs.3,307 crore. Further, the
Government has approved a proposal from Tata
Electronics to build a mega semiconductor fabrication
facility in Dholera, Gujarat, in partnership with Taiwan鈥檚
PSMC. Construction will begin this year with a total
investment of up to Rs.91,000 crore. Tata Semiconductor
Assembly and Test Pvt Ltd (TSAT) will also establish a unit in
Morigaon, Assam, with an investment of Rs.27,000 crore.
The Government seems to have realised that the
pipeline is drying up and is likely to squeeze economic
performance towards the end of this term. Therefore, we
are likely to see many more announcements coming up.
Setting up industrial smart cities would mean that land
acquisition and environmental clearances are all taken
care of and even trunk infrastructure is well provided. This,
then, sets the stage for plug and play and international
companies like Foxconn, which is already exploring
manufacturing iPads. States like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka,
Gujarat and Maharashtra are actively pursuing FDI in the
quest for job creation.
Speaking of competition, the 10th India Construction
Festival will host three awards: the 22nd Construction
World Global Awards in association with ENR
magazine, the 12th Equipment India Awards and
the RAHSTA Awards. Nominate your companies at
www.RAHSTA expo.com
