GO Ms No 30: Andhra Pradesh Transfers 2,139.15 Acres to Krishnapatnam SPV

What Was Decided

In a shot in the arm to the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) project, the Andhra Pradesh government has accorded administrative sanction to the APIIC Ltd for allotment of land to NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Ltd (NKICDL) for the development of Krishnapatnam Industrial Node (KIN). According to GO Ms No 30 issued by the Industries and Commerce (Infra) Department on May 11, for transfer of activation area land to an extent of 2,139.15 acres is allotted from the total area of CBIC of SPSR Nellore district from APIIC to the Special Purpose Vehicle - NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Ltd exempting the value of stamp duty to a tune of Rs 34 crore on such transfer.

This was a land-transfer/administrative-sanction order, not a fresh project approval — the project itself had already been cleared. It operationalised an earlier funding decision: the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister had approved the project proposals for the construction of various trunk infrastructure components in Phase 1 of Krishnapatnam Industrial Area with an estimated cost of ₹2,139.44 crores, a decision taken in late December 2020.

The Body That Decided and Why

The order was issued by the Industries and Commerce (Infra) Department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh, acting on behalf of APIIC as landowner. The transfer gave effect to commitments made years earlier: GoAP, NICDIT and APIIC had entered into a State Support Agreement (SSA) and Share Holders Agreement (SHA) on 29.11.2017, and a Special Purpose Vehicle viz NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Ltd (NKICDL) was formed between NICDIT and APIIC on 07.08.2018 with equity participation of Central and State Govt to establish, promote and facilitate the development of Krishnapatnam Industrial Node under CBIC. Under the SPV, NICDIT and APIIC have an equity contribution of 50% each. Under the SHA, land had to move into the SPV's name before Union funds could flow: as per the terms of the SHA, the entire project site identified under Krishnapatnam Industrial Node needs to be transferred in the name of the SPV for availing the grant from GoI. GO Ms No 30 is the instrument that carried out that transfer for the first tranche of land.

Operative Details: Area, Location and Boundaries

The 2,139.15 acres transferred is described as the "activation area" — the portion of the wider Krishnapatnam Node earmarked for first-phase development. As per the Initial master plan and SSA signed, the total land available for development has been identified as 11,096 acres and the Node spreads across two sites of about 60 km apart, i.e. North Node and South Node. The North Node is located along the coastline south of Krishnapatnam Port in SPSR Nellore district. The North Node is about 20 Kms east of NH-16 and presently connected through existing State highways/district/village roads from NH-16. The North Node covers eight villages in Chillakuru and Kota mandals, SPSR Nellore district. The North Node is further subdivided into three phases based on the timeline of its development, with Phase-1 planned to be commenced first, followed by other phases of North Node and subsequently South Node. The land transferred under GO Ms No 30 corresponds to this Phase-1 activation area of the North Node.

Other public data sets describe the overall node differently in scale: the north and south sites together admeasure approximately 14,200 acres, of which in the North site, the total area available for development is approximately 10,835 acres. A later news report put the North Node figure at 10,834 acres across Chillakuru and Kota mandals, with Phase 1 targeting 2,500 acres. These are broader master-plan figures; the GO itself deals specifically with the 2,139.15-acre tranche.

Money Attached to the Order

An amount of Rs 1,448 crore will be spent for the infrastructure works to be taken up in Krishnapatnam Node under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) project. This state-notified figure sits within the larger Union-approved cost envelope: the construction of Krishnapatnam Industrial Area in Andhra Pradesh had earlier got the Cabinet's approval with an estimated cost of the project of Rs 2,139.44 crores, approved alongside a similar node at Tumakuru. The Krishnapatnam Industrial Area in Andhra Pradesh was to be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 2,139.44 crore, with around 98,000 persons estimated to be employed in the first phase. The stamp-duty waiver under GO Ms No 30 — exempting the value of stamp duty to a tune of Rs 34 crore on such transfer — reduced the transaction cost of moving the land into the SPV rather than adding to the project cost itself.

Practical Effect

The order converted APIIC-held government land into SPV-owned land, which is the legal precondition for the node to draw down central industrial-corridor funding and for Phase-1 works to be tendered. For development of the Activation Area, Phase-1 in the North Node was selected to maximise the benefit of land under APIIC ownership to enable early construction; an EPC tender for the Phase 1 activation area was finalised for issue. It also formalised who would build what: NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Limited is tasked to create a world-class city in the region with industry as the main driver of economic development and employment, with supporting social and commercial infrastructure.

Downstream, the transfer fed into subsequent milestones. The Andhra Pradesh government separately sanctioned Rs 1,448 crore to form the SPV, with equity from the Central government as well, to establish, promote and facilitate the development of the Krishnapatnam Industrial Node, and the development works were described as spread over an extent of 2,500 acres (approximately), expected to generate around 1 million direct and indirect jobs by 2040 in Andhra Pradesh.

Status Update (as of July 2026)

The Krishnapatnam node has moved from land transfer into construction since the 2021 GO. The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for the Krishnapatnam Industrial Area (KRIS City) on 8 January 2025. As of mid-2025, funding disbursement was under way but well short of full drawdown: the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) had released Rs 531.36 crore of the Rs 2,139.43 crore allocated for Phase 1 trunk infrastructure, and Phase 1 was targeting 2,500 acres by February 2027. Investor-facing branding has also evolved — the SPV markets the project as "KRIS City," and its promoter page notes it was formerly known as NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Limited, a joint venture of APIIC and NICDIT. A draft master plan for the node has since been published for public objections under the state's metropolitan development authority rules, per the Draft Master Plan of Krishnapatnam Industrial Node prepared by APICDA under sub-section (1) of section 9, chapter 3 of the APICDA Act. Readers should treat land-transfer, funding-release and construction-completion milestones as distinct: GO Ms No 30 covers only the legal transfer of the activation-area land, not physical completion of infrastructure or plot handover to industries.