The government on Wednesday announced plans to establish 12 industrial cities across 10 states.
The National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP) will see an estimated investment of ₹28,602 crore in these projects, which are located along six major corridors.
The cities will be located at: Khurpia (Uttarakhand), Rajpura-Patiala (Punjab), Dighi (Maharashtra), Palakkad (Kerala), Agra and Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh).
Gaya (Bihar), Zaheerabad (Telangana), Orvakal and Kopparthy (Andhra Pradesh) and Jodhpur-Pali (Rajasthan) are the other proposed cities.
Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said the projects are expected to be complete in the next three years by 2027.
“For these areas, land has been acquired to create world class infrastructure. They will be developed as greenfield smart cities of global standards,” Goyal told reporters here.
The government also approved three railway projects worth ₹6,456 crore, including a line connecting Asansol and Jamshedpur via Purulia, which will cost ₹2,170 crore.
The rail link will improve connectivity on major trunk routes — Delhi-Howrah & Howrah–Mumbai.
The government also approved equity support of ₹4,136 crore to northeastern states for developing hydropower projects totalling 15,000MW capacity over the next eight years.
The government expanded the scope of the ₹1 lakh crore agricultural infrastructure fund (AIF) scheme.
All beneficiaries have been allowed to create community farming assets, including integrated primary and secondary processing projects.
