Land & Acquisition
Krishnapatnam Industrial Area: Land Acquisition Status
The Krishnapatnam Industrial Area (Krishnapatnam Node) under the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor is being built mainly on land already held by the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), transferred to a project SPV, rather than through a fresh farmer-compensation drive for the current Phase 1 parcel.
| Total node land identified | 11,096 acres across North Node (Nellore) and South Node (Chittoor) |
|---|---|
| Phase 1 area approved by GoI | 2,500 acres (approved 30 Dec 2020) |
| Activation area transferred to SPV | 2,139.15 acres |
| North Node villages | 8 villages in Chillakuru and Kota mandals, SPSR Nellore district |
| South Node location | Chittoor district, ~60-100 km from Krishnapatnam Port |
| State matching equity released | ₹533.86 crore |
| EPC contractor appointed | February 2024 |
| Cumulative physical progress | 22% as of October 2025 |
| Foundation stone laid by PM | 9 January 2025 |
Acquisition model: government land transfer, not a fresh farmer-compensation round
Krishnapatnam's Phase 1 does not follow the classic model of the state issuing acquisition notices to private (patta) landholders and negotiating per-acre cash awards. Instead, the government picked the parcel deliberately to avoid that process for the first tranche. The Activation Area in Phase 1 in the North Node was selected to maximize the benefit of land under the ownership of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC) to enable early commencement of plan implementation activities.
The transfer covered activation area land to an extent of 2,139.15 acres, allotted from the total CBIC area of SPSR Nellore district from APIIC to the Special Purpose Vehicle — NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Ltd — with the stamp duty on the transfer, worth Rs 34 crore, exempted. Under the terms of the Shareholders' Agreement, the entire project site identified under the Krishnapatnam Industrial Node needs to be transferred in the name of the SPV to avail the grant from the Government of India.
This intra-government transfer mechanism is why no per-acre farmer compensation schedule for the current 2,139-acre activation parcel has been published. Older news coverage of the wider corridor plan, from before the project was scaled down to its present footprint, did reference a private-land acquisition and compensation budget (see below), but that referred to a much larger, since-superseded 16,000-acre proposal.
Villages and districts covered
The North Node is located along the coastline south of Krishnapatnam Port in SPSR Nellore district and covers eight villages in Chillakuru and Kota mandals. A related, larger master-plan proposal for the area (marketed as 'Kriscity') names several of these settlements: Thamminapatnam, Ballavolu, Momidi, Vellapalem, Thurpu Kanupuru, Kothapatnam, and Siddavaram in Chillakuru and Kota mandals in the Nellore district.
The second parcel, the South Node, sits well away from the coast. The South site is in Chittoor District, located at about 60 km south-west of Krishnapatnam Port, and is about 2 km south of NH 71, presently connected to NH 71 through existing district/village roads. No village-level breakdown for the South Node has been published in available reporting, and only the North Node's activation area is currently under construction.
Overall node size has been reported with some variation across documents and years: the total land available for development under the initial master plan and State Support Agreement was identified as 11,096 acres, with the Node spread across two sites about 60 km apart, while a separate corridor page put the north and south sites together at approximately 14,200 acres.
Budget and funding released so far
The Special Purpose Vehicle for the project — NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Limited, was incorporated on 7th August 2018. The Government of India accorded approval of the project on 30th December 2020 for a Phase 1 area of 2,500 acres. The state government has transferred 2,139.15 acres of land to the SPV, with matching equity amounting to Rs 533.86 crore, and the EPC contractor was appointed in February 2024.
Separately, an earlier state government order valued the infrastructure spend for the node at a lower figure: an amount of Rs 1,448 crore was earmarked to be spent on infrastructure works for the Krishnapatnam Node under the CBIC project (as of the May 2021 order). A later corridor briefing cited a higher, CCEA-approved trunk-infrastructure cost: the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved project proposals for construction of trunk infrastructure components in Phase 1 of Krishnapatnam Industrial Area with an estimated project cost of ₹2,139.44 crore. The two figures come from different points in the project's approval history and should not be added together.
Investment and jobs potential attached to the currently notified footprint: the Krishnapatnam Node across 2,006 acres has an investment potential of approximately Rs 10,500 crore with employment generation of 1 lakh jobs, per a June 2025 review by the Union Commerce & Industry Minister.
Compensation rates and disputes
No official, current per-acre cash compensation schedule for Krishnapatnam's private/patta landholders appears in available reporting — a gap consistent with Phase 1 running mainly on already-government-owned APIIC land rather than freshly acquired farmer land (see acquisition model above).
The only compensation figures found in reporting relate to the broader, earlier-stage corridor plan (pre-2019), before the Krishnapatnam footprint was scaled down to its current size. At that stage: the state government had proposed to acquire 16,000 acres for CBIC in the Krishnapatnam region, with about 4,700 acres already available with Krishnapatnam Port and 1,500 acres with APIIC, leaving the revenue department to procure nearly 4,000 acres of patta land besides government-assigned land. Officials at the time said they needed anywhere between Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 1,200 crore to pay compensation for the acquisition of that private property. Officials also noted that the newer land acquisition policy would not apply to this land, since industrial corridors are exempted from that policy.
These figures pre-date the current, smaller Phase 1 activation area and the APIIC-land-transfer route ultimately used for it, so they should be read as historical context for the wider corridor ambition rather than as the compensation basis for the parcel now under construction. No dispute, protest, or farmer-negotiation report specific to the Krishnapatnam Node's current 2,139-acre Phase 1 parcel was found as of this writing; disputes reported elsewhere in Andhra Pradesh over the same period (e.g., a leather-park land dispute in Chittoor district and a solar-park land dispute in Nellore district's Ulavapadu mandal) concern separate, unrelated projects.
Current stage
As of the most recent official corridor progress update: cumulative physical progress of 22% had been achieved by October 2025. The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for the project on 9th January 2025.
The project's institutional structure was also expanded during this period. An addendum to the SHA and SSA was executed on 30th October 2024 for implementation of the project through the existing SPV in the state, by expanding its mandate to include the Orvakal Node under its ambit, and the existing SPV was subsequently renamed 'AP Industrial Corridor Infrastructure Development Corporation.'
NICDC's own project tracker currently lists Krishnapatnam among its most advanced sites: Krishnapatnam Industrial Area, Andhra Pradesh appears under NICDC's '4 Projects Nearing Completion' category — a tier below the fully "developed" projects like Dholera and Greater Noida, but ahead of the programme's newer, 2024-approved nodes. At the June 2025 ministerial review, NICDC's CEO & MD emphasised the importance of fast-tracking land acquisition, timely execution of external infrastructure by the state government, and ensuring quality standards throughout implementation — indicating land-related work was still an active priority even at that late stage.
Development phases
Frequently asked questions
Is Krishnapatnam's land being acquired from farmers right now?
The current 2,139.15-acre Phase 1 activation area was transferred from APIIC (a state government corporation) to the project SPV, not acquired fresh from private/patta farmers. This is why no current farmer compensation rate for this parcel has been published.
How many villages fall within the Krishnapatnam Industrial Area?
The North Node (Nellore district) covers eight villages across Chillakuru and Kota mandals. Named villages in related master-plan documents include Thamminapatnam, Ballavolu, Momidi, Vellapalem, Thurpu Kanupuru, Kothapatnam, and Siddavaram. The South Node, in Chittoor district, has no published village-level breakdown.
What is the compensation rate per acre for Krishnapatnam land?
No official current per-acre compensation figure specific to Krishnapatnam's Phase 1 parcel has been reported. Earlier (pre-2019) reporting on the much larger, since-scaled-down corridor plan cited a compensation budget of roughly Rs 1,000-1,200 crore for about 4,000 acres of private patta land, but that predates the present, smaller footprint.
How much land is officially approved for Phase 1?
The Government of India approved a Phase 1 area of 2,500 acres in December 2020, of which 2,139.15 acres of activation area has actually been transferred to the SPV.
Who is developing Krishnapatnam Industrial Area?
The SPV, originally named NICDIT Krishnapatnam Industrial City Development Limited, was incorporated in August 2018 and was renamed 'AP Industrial Corridor Infrastructure Development Corporation' in October 2024 after its mandate was expanded to also cover the Orvakal Node.
What is the current construction status?
As of October 2025, cumulative physical progress on Phase 1 infrastructure stood at 22%. The EPC contractor was appointed in February 2024, and the Prime Minister laid the foundation stone in January 2025.
Are there any farmer disputes reported at Krishnapatnam specifically?
No dispute or protest specific to the current Krishnapatnam Phase 1 parcel was found in available reporting. Land disputes reported elsewhere in Andhra Pradesh around the same time relate to separate, unrelated projects in other districts.
Sources
- Krishnapatnam industrial city gets 2,139 acres — The Hans India
- AP allots 2,139 acres for K'patnam industrial city — Bizz Buzz
- Kriscity to come up in coastal belt of Nellore — The Hans India
- Krishnapatnam Industrial Area, Andhra Pradesh — NICDC
- Krishnapatnam Industrial Area, Andhra Pradesh — National Industrial Corridor blog
- National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation status note, 31.10.2025 — DPIIT
- Piyush Goyal takes stock of Centre-led industrial nodes in Andhra — Prokerala/IANS
- Officials all set to develop Chennai Bangalore Industrial Corridor — Deccan Chronicle
- SEZ lands lie idle in Nellore — Deccan Chronicle
- Krishnapatnam Industrial Area Andhra Pradesh — NICDC (4 Projects Nearing Completion)