Dighi Industrial Smart City (Dighi Port Industrial Area / DPIA): Complete Overview

What is Dighi Industrial Smart City?

Dighi Industrial Smart City is the popular name for the Dighi Port Industrial Area (DPIA), a planned industrial township in Raigad district on Maharashtra's Konkan coast. The Dighi Port Industrial Area, spanning 6,056 acres across the Roha and Mangaon tehsils in Raigad district, is positioned as a key driver of industrial growth, leveraging its proximity to Mumbai and Pune. It is one of 12 new industrial nodes approved by the Union Cabinet under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP), the successor framework to the original Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).

DPIA proposed over 6,056 acres at a cost of Rs.5,469 Crore will be a port led development due to its proximity to the Dighi Port which is at 55 km from site, leveraging the nearby Mumbai Goa and Pune-Mangaon Highway to decongest both nearby urban centres of Mumbai & Pune, with the upcoming Navi Mumbai Airport as an added advantage. It is explicitly branded a 'smart city' concept: DPIA will be compliant to Industry 4.0 standards making it truly Industrial Smart City.

Who is building it

DPIA sits within the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme, which is administered by the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) — the renamed and expanded NICDC — under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce and Industry. For coordinated and unified development, all the existing and new industrial corridors were brought under NICDIT, which is administratively controlled by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry's Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).

On the ground, delivery runs through a joint-venture structure. MITL is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) formed with the equity participation of the Government of India and the Maharashtra State Government for developing Parcel B of the Dighi Port Industrial Area in Raigad District, Maharashtra. The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) has historically handled land notification and acquisition for the project. Officials from National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC), Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), and Maharashtra Industrial Township Limited (MITL) were also present, receiving directives to enhance Ease of Doing Business.

Notified area, villages and districts — and how the footprint has changed

The project's footprint has shrunk considerably over its long history. The current, Centrally-approved DPIA covers Dighi Port Industrial Area (DPIA), located in Raigad District, Maharashtra, spans 6,056 acres and is strategically situated near Dighi Port, enhancing its connectivity.

This is far smaller than earlier DMIC-era plans. Around 25,000 hectare was supposed to be acquired under the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). It has now been reduced to 6,460 hectare (as of the mid-2010s), following farmer protests. In Raigad district, 12,000 hectares of land across 78 villages were notified for the project by the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), and farmers from 78 villages in Mangaon, Roha and Tala tehsils in Raigad have been protesting against the alleged forceful land acquisition for the project. An activist tracking the issue told Land Conflict Watch that "the Dighi Port Industrial Area initially wanted to acquire land spread across 78 villages, but after the protests by farmers and villagers, the plans have not been executed."

A later, intermediate version of the project put the area at roughly 5,000 hectares. The Dighi Port Industrial Area (DPIA) project, spread over 5,024 hectare in Raigad district, was set to get environmental clearance, with at least 4,500 trees to be felled and 15 villages affected, and about 88 per cent of the land acquisition completed as of that time. The 6,056-acre figure now used by NICDC and DPIIT reflects the scope approved by the Cabinet in August 2024, and is the current official basis for the project.

Why this location — the rationale

DPIA is designed as a port-linked industrial hub. National Industrial Corridor Development Programme is India's most ambitious infrastructure programme aiming to develop futuristic industrial cities in India which can compete with the best manufacturing and investment destinations in the world. For DPIA specifically, the pitch rests on three things: proximity to Dighi Port, highway/rail access, and decongesting Mumbai and Pune.

• The focused sectors in Dighi will be engineering, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, textiles and food and beverages, and Dighi Industrial smart city development will further boost port-led industrialisation, being planned as a port city to leverage the upcoming Dighi port.
• The new smart city is also expected to ease congestion in the Mumbai Metropolitan Area, offering connectivity to both Mumbai and Pune.
• Its development is projected to promote eco and heritage tourism in the region.

Officials also frame it as part of a state-level goal: "The development of the Dighi Port Industrial Area as a smart city, alongside the Vadhavan Port, is expected to spur growth across various sectors and contribute significantly to Maharashtra's goal of becoming a $1 trillion economy."

Current status (as of July 2026)

DPIA moved from concept to funded construction over 2024–2026:

• At the backdrop of the historic and far-reaching decision by Govt. of India on 28th Aug, 2024, approving 12 Industrial nodes/cities in the country under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme, the Secretary, DPIIT, visited the proposed site for development of the Dighi Port Industrial Area (DPIA).
• On February 20, 2025, [Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush] Goyal conducted an aerial survey of the upcoming Dighi Port Industrial Area (DPIA) in Raigad district, which was approved by the Government of India in August 2024.
• Trunk infrastructure has now been contracted out. Ramky Infrastructure Limited has entered into an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) agreement with Maharashtra Industrial Township Limited (MITL) to deliver infrastructure works for Dighi Port Industrial Area (DPIA) Phase I under the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
• Ramky Infrastructure Limited has been awarded a major EPC contract worth ₹1,401.84 crore by Maharashtra Industrial Township Limited for the development of Dighi Port Industrial Area Phase I Package A.
• The contract involves the design, engineering, procurement, construction, testing, and commissioning of core infrastructure for Phase-1 development, including internal road networks, stormwater drainage systems, water supply infrastructure, sewage and recycled water networks, power distribution systems.
• The project has to be completed within 930 days from the appointed date and the O&M period of four years from COD date, which is extendable upon mutual discussion.

Separately, tenders are circulating for private-sector participation in specific parks within DPIA, including selection of a strategic partner for equity infusion, development, operation, maintenance and management of an eco-friendly industrial park by MIDC and selection of a global/international developer on DBFOT-PPP basis for theme-based industrial parks at cluster no. 7. These indicate the site is still in the tendering/build-out stage for most parcels, not yet operational.

Headline connectivity

DPIA's pitch is built on multi-modal access:

• The site offers access to NH-66 (10km) and is well-connected via rail to key industrial regions like Kolad, Roha, Raigad and Mangaon. The presence of the Konkan railway enhances the multimodal connectivity to the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.
• In terms of connectivity, the Dighi industrial smart city will benefit from its proximity to NH753F Mangaon-Pune and NH66 Mumbai-Goa national highways, as well as state highway 97.
• Rail links to Kolad, Indapur, and Mangaon, and access to Mumbai Airport, Pune Airport, and the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, further enhance its accessibility.
• A Multi-Modal Logistic Park proposed to be developed at Dighi, with the focus on optimising the efficiency of freight and passenger movement, is expected to bring logistics costs down to about 9 per cent from the present 14-16 per cent.

What happens next

With the Phase 1, Package A infrastructure contract now placed, the near-term milestone is physical construction of roads, water, power and drainage networks over roughly the next 2.5 years (930 days from the EPC contractor's appointed date), followed by four years of contracted operations and maintenance. Further packages/parcels — including additional trunk works and privately-developed theme parks — remain at the tendering stage as of this writing. A lot of time savings have already been made in terms of master planning, obtaining EC from MoEF&CC and land acquisition, which will reduce the turnaround time for industries to start production once infrastructure is ready. No operational date for plug-and-play plots or anchor-industry allotments has been published yet.