CCEA Approves Prayagraj Industrial Smart City (IMC Prayagraj) Under NICDP — 28 August 2024

What was decided

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved a package of 12 new industrial node/smart-city proposals under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme on 28 August 2024. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a meeting held in New Delhi on 28 August 2024, approved 12 newly approved projects to be set up in 10 states along 6 major Industrial Corridors, with an estimated investment of Rs 28,602 crore. These projects are expected to attract INR 1.52 trillion (US$18.12 billion) in investments from large industries and MSMEs, creating 1 million direct and 3 million indirect jobs.

Prayagraj was one of two Uttar Pradesh locations named in the package. The newly approved projects were two in Andhra Pradesh (Orvakal and Kopparthy) and two in Uttar Pradesh (Agra and Prayagraj), plus one each in Uttarakhand (Khurpia), Punjab (Rajpura-Patiala), Maharashtra (Dighi), Kerala (Palakkad), Bihar (Gaya), Telangana (Zaheerabad) and Rajasthan (Jodhpur-Pali). With this approval, the total number of projects to be developed under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP) rose to 44.

Process leading to the decision

The Prayagraj proposal went through the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) before reaching Cabinet. The project proposal was recommended by NICDIT during its meeting held on 8th July 2024. CCEA approval followed roughly seven weeks later, on 28 August 2024. The same CCEA meeting also cleared unrelated items — three railway projects across Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh costing about Rs 6,456 crore, and a Northeast hydro-power initiative — which are not part of the Prayagraj decision itself.

Operative details: area, investment, sectors

IMC Prayagraj is sited away from the city core, inside an existing state industrial zone. The Integrated Manufacturing Cluster (IMC) at Saraswati Hi-Tech City, located 25 km south of Prayagraj, spans 352 acres with an investment potential of ₹1,600 crore. It is designed to boost economic expansion, create job opportunities, and enhance SME productivity, with connectivity to NH-35, NH-30, rail/EDFC, and proximity to Prayagraj Airport (24 km) and the New Karchana EDFC Station (7 km).

A later official update refined the land count. The state government identified 351 acres of land for the project — 231 acres of greenfield land and 120 acres inside the existing Saraswati Hi-Tech City — for the project.

On sectors, the government's press release on the state agreements specified the target industries. The IMC Prayagraj, spanning 352 acres, with projected investments of approximately INR 1,600 crore, is designed to focus on industries such as e-mobility, food processing, leather, garments, cycle manufacturing, and packaging.

Corridor and institutional framework

Prayagraj's node sits under the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC), one of the six corridors covered by the August 2024 CCEA package. The State Support Agreement and Shareholder Agreement signed later underscored the Government of India's commitment to fostering industrial growth starting with the Integrated Manufacturing Clusters in Agra and Prayagraj, designed to become engines of industrial and economic growth under the Amritsar-Kolkata Industrial Corridor. The implementing agencies on the ground are the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC)/NICDIT at the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA) for the state.

Post-approval implementation milestones

These milestones are drawn from NICDC's own Delhi-Mumbai/AKIC status trackers. The Shareholder Agreement between UPSIDA and NICDIT for IMC Prayagraj was executed on 8th November 2024, the State Support Agreement between the Government of Uttar Pradesh, UPSIDA and NICDIT for IMC Prayagraj was executed on the same date, and the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA), Uttar Pradesh, granted Environmental Clearance on 10th March 2025. The AKIC Integrated Manufacturing Cluster Agra-Prayagraj Ltd SPV was incorporated on 30th January 2025.

Status as of the latest available tracker (October 2025)

As of the most recent NICDC/DPIIT project status update reviewed (dated 31 October 2025), work on IMC Prayagraj was at the planning stage — land identification, consultant appointment and master planning — with no report yet of land transfer to the SPV, an EPC contract, or physical construction start at the Prayagraj site specifically. The state government had identified 351 acres of land for the project, a consultant had been appointed, and work related to market demand, investor outreach, detailed master planning and preliminary engineering was under way. This distinguishes IMC Prayagraj — still pre-construction — from four older NICDP smart cities (Dholera, Shendra-Bidkin, Greater Noida, Vikram Udyogpuri) that are already operational or substantially built.

Practical effect

For investors, the CCEA decision converts Prayagraj from a proposal into a Centrally-sanctioned project with a committed funding envelope, a signed state-Centre agreement structure, and an incorporated SPV — the standard sequence NICDP nodes follow before land allotment opens. The NICDP structure is intended to provide developed land parcels ready for immediate allotment, making it easier for domestic and international investors to set up manufacturing units in India, though for Prayagraj that allotment-ready stage had not yet been reached as of the most recent tracker data reviewed. For residents and landowners around Saraswati Hi-Tech City, the approval formalises the industrial-use designation of the identified 351–352 acre area and signals that environmental clearance, agreements and SPV formation — the legal preconditions to construction — are now complete, with detailed master planning and EPC tendering as the next visible steps.