New Delhi: December 22, 2011

The Government of India has announced a national manufacturing policy with the objective of enhancing the share of manufacturing in GDP to 25% within a decade and creating 100 million jobs. It also seeks to empower rural youth by imparting necessary skill sets to make them employable. Sustainable development is integral to the spirit of the policy and technological value addition in manufacturing has received special focus.

The first phase of the NIMZ will be established along the DMIC which will see early results in the next few years. The development of this corridor will be anchored in the National Manufacturing Policy which will give its strength by providing an overarching policy framework.

The Government of India is developing the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), as a global manufacturing and investment destination utilizing the high capacity 1483 km long western dedicated railway Freight Corridor (DFC), as the backbone. In essence, the DMIC project is aimed at the development of futuristic industrial cities. This would involve/attract an estimated investment of around US$ 90-100 billion over the next thirty years. The DMIC project covers 6 States i.e. Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, accounting for 43% of the national GDP, 50% of industrial production and exports and 40% of total workforce. It is estimated that the developments under the project will offer employment opportunities for over three million people.

DMIC has 24 nodes covering 11 Investment Regions (IR) of more than 200 sq. kms each and 13 Industrial Areas (IA) of about 100 sq. kms each. Initially, 7 (Seven) investment nodes are being developed with assistance from Government of India.

The 7 Investment Regions under DMIC will be NIMZs as under:

Ahmedabad-Dholera Investment Region, Gujarat (900 sq km)
Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park city near Aurangabad, Maharashtra (84 sq km)
Manesar-Bawal Investment Region, Haryana (380 sq km)
Khushkhera-Bhiwadi-Neemrana Investment Region, Rajasthan (150 sq km)
Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow Investment Region, Madhya Pradesh (370 sq km)
Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region, Uttar Pradesh (250 sq km) and
Dighi Port Industrial Area, Maharashtra (230 sq km).

The present status of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor is as follows

Master Plans of New Industrial Cities have been approved except the one for Uttar Pradesh.
The Cabinet in its meeting held on 15th September, 2011 has, inter alia, approved financial assistance of Rs.17, 500/- crore over the next five years for the development of industrial cities in the Delhi – Mumbai Industrial Corridor. In addition, Rs.1000/- crore has been approved for undertaking project development activities by the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation.
State Governments have initiated the process of land acquisition except Uttar Pradesh.

The Policy is based on a principle of industrial growth in partnership with the States. Central Government will create the enabling policy framework, provide incentives for infrastructure development on a PPP basis through appropriate financing instruments, while State Governments will identify the suitable land and be equity holders in the NIMZs.

The key policy instruments for achieving the objective includes establishment of National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) – green field integrated Industrial Townships with state –of-the-art infrastructure and land use on the basis of zoning; clean and energy efficient technology and requisite social infrastructure. NIMZ proposed with land area of at least 5000 hectares.

Industrial Townships are proposed to be self governing and Autonomous Bodies under Article 243(Q-c) of the Constitution.

The trunk infrastructure will be financed appropriately by Central Government including through viability gap funding while SPV will develop the zone infrastructure in PPP mode.

NIMZ will be managed by Special Purpose Vehicle, headed by. Govt. officials and experts, including those of environment.

The policy has also come up with proposals to improve access to finance for SMEs in the manufacturing sector.

The proposals in the policy are generally sector neutral, location neutral and technology neutral except incentivization of green technology. While the National Investment & Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) are an important instrumentality, the proposals contained in the Policy apply to manufacturing industry throughout the country including where ever industry is able to organize itself into clusters and adopt a model of self-regulation.

 

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