Khurpia Industrial Smart City (IMC Khurpia / Kichha IMC), Uttarakhand — Overview

What Khurpia Industrial Smart City Is

Khurpia Industrial Smart City is the popular name for the Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC) Khurpia — also referred to as Kichha IMC or, in some official documents, Prag-Khurpia IMC. It is a 1,002-acre Integrated Manufacturing Cluster under the Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC), located just 17 km from Rudrapur in Kichha Tehsil, strategically near NH-09, NH-109, and SH-44.

Khurpia Farm in Udham Singh Nagar district is being developed as an Integrated Manufacturing Cluster as part of the Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC), which is conceptualized along the high-capacity, high-speed Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC) and runs parallel to the Golden Quadrilateral. The site sits in the Tarai region and is part of the Kumaon Division of Uttarakhand. It is one of 12 new greenfield industrial cities approved by the Union Cabinet in 2024 under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP), alongside nodes such as Rajpura-Patiala, Agra, Prayagraj, Gaya and others.

Who Is Building It

The project is delivered through a Centre–state structure typical of NICDP nodes. State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIIDCUL) has proposed the Integrated Manufacturing Cluster at Khurpia Farm under the Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor Project. The national nodal body is the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) and its investment arm NICDIT. A State Support Agreement/Shareholder's Agreement for the project was executed on 30 April 2022 (approved by NICDIT on 14 July 2021), and the project SPV, NICDC Uttarakhand Industrial Township Limited, was incorporated on 21 October 2022.

On the ground, execution is being carried out through an EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) contractor appointed by the SPV for trunk infrastructure — roads, water supply and power distribution inside the site — while external connectivity (bulk power, telecom) is mapped separately under the PM GatiShakti National Master Plan.

Notified Area, Villages and District

The officially confirmed project footprint is 1,002 Acre land for development of Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC) at Khurpia, confirmed by the State Government. Environmental documentation identifies the site in more granular terms: the site is located at Village Khurpia, Bandiya, Deoria, Gauri Kalan & Bhooragauri at Kichha sub-district of Udham Singh Nagar district, Uttarakhand.

The land itself was farmland/state-owned barren land before transfer. The identified land is in possession of SIIDCUL and is currently barren land, with no structures present. The district administration formally moved the land to the developer: the decision to transfer the land in Khurpia farm to the State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL) was described by District Magistrate Udayraj Singh as a critical step toward actualizing the smart industrial city. As of the latest NICDC status update, only part of the notified land has actually changed hands to the project company — 500 acre land has been transferred by the State government to the Project SPV, with matching equity amounting to Rs. 207.09 Crore released.

Why This Region Exists

Khurpia is designed to convert Uttarakhand's existing industrial belt around Pantnagar, Rudrapur and Kashipur into a planned, plug-and-play manufacturing node rather than organic, unplanned growth. The project's focus is on establishing Khurpia as an automobile hub, alongside industries related to engineering and fabrication. Environmental filings describe it in the same terms: Khurpia includes an Automobile and Engineering Cluster, and the proposed IMC Khurpia is a mixed-development area.

The broader rationale is national. NICDC's own explanation of why such greenfield industrial cities are needed points to strain on India's existing large cities: industrial smart cities are essential to address the challenges posed by rapid urbanization in India — with urban areas contributing nearly 55-60% of the country's GDP, growing in-migration to mega cities has overburdened civic infrastructure and raised population densities, creating pressure on water, power, transport, safety and housing. Industrial smart cities are meant to offer a sustainable solution by promoting balanced regional development. Locally, industry bodies expect the cluster to lift the region's MSME base: the industrial smart city in Khurpia Farm is likely to be developed as an automobile and engineering hub, which the Industries Association of Uttarakhand believes would boost MSMEs in the region.

Current Status (as of mid-2026)

Khurpia is past the approval stage but still well short of operational. Key milestones reached so far:

• Environmental Clearance (EC) for the project was granted by SEIAA, Uttarakhand on 9th March, 2023.
• A consultant has been appointed and detailed master planning and preliminary engineering, along with cost estimates, are complete.
• 500 acres of land has been transferred by the state government to the Project SPV, with matching equity of Rs. 207.09 Crore released.
• A second-call EPC tender was floated on 18th October 2025, and the Letter of Award was issued by the SPV to M/s Raj Shyama Constructions Pvt. Ltd. on 16th December 2025.

This mirrors the pace seen across the wider NICDP programme: Special Purpose Vehicles have been formed for all 12 new industrial cities, EPC contractors appointed for nine of them, and Environment clearances secured for 11 of the 12 projects. As of January 2026, a total of 08 cities had been successfully awarded EPC contracts for construction of internal trunk infrastructure works, with two more reaching similar stages shortly after. No industrial plots at Khurpia have been reported as allotted to private companies yet, and no residential or commercial activity is operational — the site remains under construction/site-preparation as of this writing.

Headline Connectivity

Khurpia's location was chosen for its links into Uttarakhand's existing Tarai industrial belt. The 1,002-acre site sits just 17 km from Rudrapur in Kichha Tehsil, near NH-09, NH-109, and SH-44. Rail and road infrastructure runs directly alongside it: a broad-gauge railway line between Bareilly and Haldwani runs parallel to the site along with SH-44, which abuts the site on its eastern side with a 24 m right-of-way. The Pantnagar Industrial Area is located in close proximity to the proposed IMC.

For air travel, the nearest airport is Pantnagar Airport, described as the nearest airport to the Kumaon division, located in the middle of Haldwani and Rudrapur, the two largest cities of Kumaon. The site is also naturally bounded by two watercourses: River Beni forms the eastern boundary of the site and connects with river Gaula/Kichha towards the south near Kichha town, while the Paha canal traverses through the north.

Planned Land Use and Scale

Khurpia is planned as a mixed-use township rather than a pure industrial estate. Development comprises industrial units, a residential area, a commercial area, roads, public utilities and amenities, and green areas. Power planning gives a sense of scale: total power demand for Khurpia IMC is estimated at 115 MVA, of which 100 MVA is for the industrial area and the remaining 15 MVA for residential, commercial, street lighting and utilities. Early environmental filings put the eventual on-site population at a modest estimated residential population of approximately 17,760. Water for construction and operations is planned to come from groundwater, subject to clearance: the source of fresh water is groundwater, with permission from the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) to be taken for abstraction.

What Happens Next

With the EPC contract awarded in December 2025, the immediate next phase is physical site preparation. NICDC's latest project tracker notes that site establishment, clearing and grubbing, design and drawings, and site survey work are in progress. The remaining 502 acres of the notified 1,002-acre parcel still need to be formally transferred to the SPV to match the 500 acres already handed over. Beyond that, milestones to watch for are: completion of internal trunk infrastructure (roads, drainage, power, water) by the EPC contractor; opening of plot allotment to industrial investors (not yet underway as of mid-2026); and confirmation of external connectivity works — power evacuation and telecom links — being coordinated through the PM GatiShakti framework. Programme-wide, the Ministry has flagged four other AKIC-linked cities for near-term completion, giving a rough sense of the pace the whole corridor — and by extension Khurpia — is expected to move at over the next two to three years.