Goyal urges States to fast-track NICDC projects, set deadlines for acquisition & allotment of land

New Delhi, April 23, 2022

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal has urged the States to fast-track projects and set a deadline for the acquisition and allotment of NICDC land in industrial nodes and clusters.

Addressing the Investor Round Table Conference on National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDC) here on Friday night, Goyal said 18 states were being asked to decide quickly on offering the land.

“Otherwise, we will be forced to foreclose those projects and maybe offer them to other states willing to speed up the investment.

“However, there should be no land squatting. Units must be set up soon that would lead to the absorption of new technologies and the creation of jobs,” he added.

“Ultimately the nation’s assets have to be put to good use. As we say in business management terminology, 'Let’s sweat our assets as much as we can', let’s put to use whatever infrastructure or facilities that are created wherever to the maximum possible use,” he said.

The National Industrial Corridor Corporation (NICDC) is implementing 11 corridors comprising 32 projects in four phases.

Stating that one NICDC project was on the cusp of taking off, Goyal said several states were offering incentives under NICDC projects. CEO, Greater NOIDA has committed to allotment of land in 20 days and CEO, Dholera has offered a 50% discount on the land cost to the first anchors for the first 30% of plots available.

Stating that the NICDIC will be dovetailed with the PM GatiShakti and NSWS, Goyal said Invest India will set up offices in the first four townships coming up under the NICDC project and BIS/QCI will set up testing labs in emerging industrial clusters.

Pointing out that India has again emerged as the world’s fastest-growing economy and scaled the highest ever exports of $670 billion, he urged entrepreneurs to take advantage of Government initiatives such as the NICDC, Digital India, Smart Cities, $1.4 trillion huge infrastructure projects in the National Infrastructure Pipeline, NICDC facilities and financial inclusion.

Encouraging entrepreneurs to take advantage of the “great building block of exports”, he said, “The world wants to do business with us and it is now upon us to seize the opportunity. As we progress from a developing to a developed nation, we can serve as soldiers during this Amritkaal.

“After all, you have seen the rush of countries wanting to do work with India, - two FTAs in our bag in two months, 3 or 4 others at advanced stages of negotiations,” he added.

World-class exhibition and convention facilities were being created at Pragati Maidan and IICC-Dwarka in Delhi, besides Greater Noida and Mumbai. “India now wants to play an increasingly important role in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) sector. We want to make India an investment destination of choice.

“Let us participate in this growth story that India is working on and see how we can make the best use of available facilities and also come up with ideas for the future,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, DPIIT Secretary Ramesh Abhishek said the Government has started EPDB 2.0 and decriminalization of industry-related laws was a priority. The NSWS and India Industrial Land Bank (IILB) were also facilitating industry investments.

NICDC is a pioneering infrastructure programme, developing new industrial cities as "Smart Cities" through the convergence of next-gen technologies, creating benchmarks and competition with the best manufacturing/investment destinations in the world. The NICDC was approved by the Government in December 2020 for the development of 11 industrial corridors with 32 state-of-the-art projects to be developed in four phases by 2026-27.

A combined investment of Rs 16,760 crore has been already done in the 4 cities for the 173 allotted plots. The four "Smart" industrial cities are emerging at Dholera (Gujarat), Shendra Bidkin (Maharashtra), Vikram Udhogpuri (MP) and Integrated Industrial Township in Greater Noida (UP).

At the national level, infrastructure initiatives are being driven by the Government’s flagship programme, - PM Gati Shakti. It will play a key role in streamlining the remaining 28 NICDC projects under implementation to bring down the logistics cost.

NNN