CCEA Approves Khurpia Among 12 New Industrial Smart Cities Under NICDP

What the CCEA decided

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has greenlit the development of 12 industrial smart cities across six major industrial corridors in 10 states, with an estimated investment of Rs 28,602 crore. These smart industrial cities will be strategically located in key regions, including Khurpia in Uttarakhand, Rajpura-Patiala in Punjab, Dighi in Maharashtra, Palakkad in Kerala, Agra and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Gaya in Bihar, Zaheerabad in Telangana, Orvakal and Kopparthy in Andhra Pradesh, and Jodhpur-Pali in Rajasthan.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved 12 new industrial smart cities including one in Khurpia Farm in Uttarakhand under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP). For Khurpia specifically, this was formal Cabinet sanction for central-government-backed trunk infrastructure at the site, not a decision to build the city outright — the practical work of land transfer, tendering and construction follows in subsequent steps handled by the state agency SIIDCUL, the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC) and a dedicated project SPV.

The hubs are to be built over the next three years, with development of industries like technical textiles, fabrication, electric vehicles, aero logistics, food processing and tourism, among others across the 12-city package, with each site's specific sector focus decided separately.

Where Khurpia sits in the approval, and its numbers

Khurpia Farm in Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand, is a 1,002-acre Integrated Manufacturing Cluster under the Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC), located just 17 km from Rudrapur in Kichha Tehsil, near NH-09, NH-109, and SH-44. With a project cost of ₹1,265 crore and an investment potential of ₹6,180 crore, the IMC is poised to generate over 75,000 jobs.

A separate environmental-clearance filing gives a slightly more precise site figure: the proposed IMC site covers an area of 1,013.386 acres (410.10 ha) of Khurpia, Bandiya, Deoria, Gauri Kalan & Bhooragauri — meaning the cluster spans land across five village revenue areas, not Khurpia alone.

At the state level, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister for the approval of the industrial city in Khurpia Farm in Udhamsingh Nagar district, claiming the move would attract investments of Rs 15,000 crore and generate 50,000 jobs in Uttarakhand. This state-wide figure is broader than the ₹6,180 crore investment potential attributed to the Khurpia site itself, and appears to include downstream and ancillary investment expected across Uttarakhand as a result of the project.

The government has added automobiles, auto components, engineering and fabrication sectors in the focus sectors for Khurpia.

Regulatory sequence: what came before and after the CCEA nod

The CCEA's August 2024 sanction was the capstone of a longer administrative process that NICDC's own project-monitoring records lay out step by step:

• SSA/SHA for the project has been executed on 30th April, 2022 and approved by NICDIT on 14th July, 2021.
• The project proposal has been recommended by NICDIT during the meeting held on 8th June, 2022.
• NICDC Uttarakhand Industrial Township Limited, SPV was incorporated 21st October, 2022.
• EC for the project has been granted by SEIAA, Uttarakhand on 9th March, 2023.
• CCEA approval received on 28th Aug, 2024.
• LoA issued by SPV for Programme Manager for New Cities (PMNC) on 8th July, 2025.

In parallel, the State Government confirmed the availability of 1,002 acres of land for development of the Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC) at Khurpia. The environmental clearance filing classifies the project as a Category 8(b) Townships and Area Development project because the proposed IMC covers an area of 410.10 ha which is less than 500 ha and has a mixed-use built-up area of 16,60,000 sq. mt.

Site conditions and boundaries

According to the project's environmental-clearance filing, the land was, at the time of assessment, undeveloped: the identified land is in possession of SIIDCUL and is currently barren land. There are a few trees on site which may require to be cut.

Two watercourses define the site: River Beni forms the eastern boundary of the site and gets connected with river Gaula / Kichha towards the south of the site near Kichha town. Paha canal traverses through the north of the site as well.

Planning documents put the eventual scale of servicing at: total estimated residential population of approximately 17,760, and a total power demand for Khurpia IMC of 115 MVA, of which 100 MVA is for the industrial area and the rest 15 MVA is for residential, commercial, street lighting and utilities demand.

Practical effect of the decision

The CCEA approval unlocked central government funding and formal programme status for trunk infrastructure at Khurpia — roads, water and power backbone works — rather than approving the final master plan or land allotment to individual investors. Following the approval, tendering for that infrastructure began: a dedicated EPC tender for Khurpia (Tender No. 06/NUITL/2025) was floated by the project SPV, described as an EPC-basis contract for construction, testing, commissioning and operation & maintenance of infrastructure works at IMC Khurpia under the Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor, with a corrigendum published in September 2025.

The EPC scope itself is broad: the trunk-infrastructure package includes Component A (Roads, Civil work, Wet Utilities, Power Civil Works & HT line realignment, ICT ducts & access chambers), Component B (CETP & STP) and Component C (Power Infrastructure — three 33kV Substations and one 11kV Substation). The internal road network is planned in a hierarchy: the Right of Way (RoW) of proposed roads is 60m, 45m, 30m, 24m, 18m and 7m, connecting the site to the Kichha bypass and to SH-44.

As of mid-2026, based on NICDC's own delivery-monitoring disclosures, the project had cleared environmental, shareholder-agreement, SPV-incorporation and CCEA-approval milestones, and had progressed to appointment of a Programme Manager for New Cities and EPC tendering for trunk works — placing Khurpia in the pre-construction/early-infrastructure stage rather than being an operational industrial city.