Gaya Industrial Smart City (IMC Gaya): Land Acquisition Status, Villages and Compensation

Acquisition model

Unlike some newer industrial-city projects that use a voluntary consent or land-pooling model, IMC Gaya has largely been assembled through direct state action: government (revenue) land parcels were transferred by cabinet order, and the remaining private land was acquired and handed over by the Bihar revenue department. The state government delineated 1,670 acres of land for the project, of which 1,652 acres are under the possession of the Industries Department, the revenue department handed over private land in September 2023 and the State Cabinet transferred government land in January 2024, with the balance 18 acres being acquired.

Compensation for settlements on the site is being paid after verification of legal ownership, with about 33 settlements found in the project area, and Resettlement & Rehabilitation being carried out as per the RFCTLARR Act, 2013, and the Bihar Land Acquisition and Resettlement and Rehabilitation Policy, 2007. This is a statutory award/R&R process rather than a negotiated consent scheme, though the bulk of the footprint was already government land, which limited the scope for private-owner negotiation on the core 1,670-acre node.

For the 1,300-acre expansion approved in 2025, the Bihar cabinet approved acquisition for expansion of the Integrated Manufacturing Cluster at Dobhi, Gaya, under the Amritsar–Kolkata Industrial Corridor Project in 2025–26, with the work to be carried out by the Infrastructure Development Authority at an estimated cost of ₹416 crore.

Villages covered

All acquisition to date sits within a single district and block. The project site is located at Dobhi block of Sherghati sub-division of Gaya district, and the IMC site falls in 13 revenue villages: Gamhariya, Kishoriya, Gangi, Mangruchak, Bariya, Lembogara, Gazichak, Kharanti, Sugasot, Masaundha, Babhavandev, Banvasi and Invorva.

• Gamhariya
• Kishoriya
• Gangi
• Mangruchak
• Bariya
• Lembogara
• Gazichak
• Kharanti
• Sugasot
• Masaundha
• Babhavandev
• Banvasi
• Invorva

No published village-wise breakdown was found for the separate 1,300-acre expansion land approved in August 2025; that acquisition is also anchored in the Dobhi node area.

Compensation rates and budget

No public report was found that discloses a specific farmer/landowner compensation rate in rupees per acre for IMC Gaya. Reporting instead gives project-level land-cost and equity figures rather than a per-acre payout schedule, so no rate figure is presented here to avoid estimating one.

The IMC project, spanning over 1,670 acres in Dobhi block of Sherghati sub-division of Gaya district, is to be developed at a cost of ₹1,339 crore including a land cost of ₹462.14 crore. Separately, the project documentation cites an expected investment of ₹6.00 crore per acre for units setting up in the IMC — this is an investor cost benchmark for developed industrial plots, not a farmer compensation rate.

For the expansion tranche, 1,300 acres for expansion of the Dobhi IMC were approved in the 2025–26 cabinet decision at an estimated cost of ₹416 crore, to be executed by the Infrastructure Development Authority.

On the implementation-vehicle side, a 414-acre parcel has been transferred by the state government to the project SPV, with matching equity amounting to ₹132.22 crore, as recorded in NICDC's January 2026 project-monitoring report.

Disputes and farmer negotiations

No specific reports of farmer protests, compensation disputes or litigation over rates were found for the IMC Gaya/Dobhi acquisition as of this writing (July 2026). This differs from some other industrial-city projects elsewhere in India, where farmer groups have publicly contested compensation offers. The relatively low level of reported friction at Gaya may relate to the fact that most of the core 1,670-acre site was government land already under the Industries Department, with the balance of private land handed over by the revenue department in September 2023 and government land transferred by cabinet order in January 2024. The 33 settlements identified on site are being compensated under statutory R&R procedure rather than through open-market negotiation, and no dispute over that process has been reported in available coverage.

Current stage (as of July 2026)

The core 1,670-acre node is at an advanced stage: IMC Gaya, located near Dobhi, spans 1,670 acres and has received environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change. The State Support Agreement between the Bihar government, BIADA and NICDIT for IMC Gaya was executed on 12 November 2024. A Special Purpose Vehicle, Bihar Integrated Manufacturing City Gaya Limited, was set up to implement the project.

On construction, financial bids for the project were opened on 30 January 2026, with M/s NKC Projects Pvt Ltd emerging as the L1 (lowest-price) bidder. Earlier, in mid-2025, Bihar's Chief Secretary reviewed the project and directed that agency selection be decided by the end of March 2026, noting that land had already been acquired by the state government for the purpose.

Separately, the project footprint is being expanded: the Bihar cabinet gave its approval for acquisition of 1,300 acres of land for development of the IMC under the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Project at Dobhi in Gaya district, with officials clarifying that this expansion land is additional to the older, ongoing IMC project at Dobhi. That expansion was approved in August 2025 for execution during FY2025–26.