UP Government Approves 9 Mega Industrial Zones Under SVPEIZ — Prayagraj Placed in Kanpur–Prayagraj Hub

What was decided

In a bid to attract big-ticket private investments across sectors, the Uttar Pradesh government plans to develop nine mega industrial zones to integrate skill development, employment, industry, and entrepreneurship, with the project covering all major towns including Lucknow, Varanasi, Agra, Noida, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Ayodhya, Aligarh, Ghaziabad, and Prayagraj. Under the flagship SVPEIZ project, each zone will be developed around a hub-and-spoke model, aligning with its industrial strengths, available resources, and investment potential, and a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be constituted for each hub.

UP Principal Secretary for MSME and Export Promotion, Shashi Bhushan Lal Sushil, said the state has witnessed unprecedented growth in investment and industrial activity since 2017, and that the SVPEIZ model is aimed at preparing youth with industry-relevant skills and connecting them directly with employment opportunities, in line with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's vision.

The Prayagraj hub-and-spoke zone

The state government will divide Uttar Pradesh into nine hub-and-spoke zones, one of which covers the Kanpur and Prayagraj divisions together — alongside separate zones for Gautam Buddh Nagar; Ghaziabad-Hapur-Meerut-Baghpat-Bulandshahr; Moradabad-Bareilly; Agra-Aligarh; Lucknow-Ayodhya; Chitrakoot-Jhansi-Vindhyachal; Varanasi-Azamgarh; and Gorakhpur-Basti-Devipatan. Each zone will focus on its local industrial strength, available resources and investment potential.

Within each zone, an Excellence Centre (Hub) and associated Regional Skill Development Centres (Spokes) will be developed, with advanced technical training, research, innovation, trainer training, placement and career services operated at the hub level, while spoke centres run training tailored to regional requirements. This means Prayagraj will function as part of a shared Kanpur–Prayagraj hub structure rather than having a standalone SVPEIZ hub of its own, based on the zone list released so far.

Phase-1 rollout and implementing agencies

Uttar Pradesh will establish 16 SVPEIZ centres in the first phase, a project that was announced earlier this year on Uttar Pradesh Day. These will include five centres under the MSME Department, five by the Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Authority (UPSIDA), two by the Uttar Pradesh Expressways Industrial Development Authority (UPEIDA), two by the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA), and one each by the Greater Noida Authority and the Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority (GIDA). The centres will form part of a nine-zone hub-and-spoke network covering different regions of Uttar Pradesh.

No source reviewed identifies which specific implementing agency or exact site has been assigned to the Kanpur–Prayagraj hub as of July 2026; this detail has not yet been made public in the announcements found.

Land, facilities and design norms

Each SVPEIZ centre is meant to function as a one-stop industrial, skill and employment ecosystem, offering skill development institutes, industrial plots, plug-and-play industrial sheds, common facility centres, employment assistance, entrepreneurship support, digital literacy, foreign language training and modern business services, alongside ready-to-use infrastructure such as power, water and roads. The state has planned modern land-use patterns including dedicated areas for industrial units, skill development, commercial activities, green spaces and infrastructure, and in locations where land is limited, multi-storey industrial complexes and flatted factory models will be developed.

Each district's Employment and Industrial Zone is to be developed over a minimum area of 50 acres, with implementation planned in a phased manner, according to the government's earlier statement on the scheme. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to promptly identify suitable land in all districts for the proposed project.

How this differs from the existing NICDC Prayagraj node

SVPEIZ is a separate, state-run MSME/skilling scheme and should not be confused with Prayagraj's existing national industrial-corridor project. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, had already approved 12 new industrial nodes under the National Industrial Corridor Development Programme, including one at Agra and one at Prayagraj in UP, with an estimated investment of Rs. 28,602 crore across all 12 nodes.

The Prayagraj node — 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. That NICDC-led project is developed by UPSIDC/UPSIDA under the national corridor programme and pre-dates the SVPEIZ announcement; SVPEIZ is a state skilling-and-employment layer being added on top of the existing industrial-zone landscape, run through UPSIDA, UPEIDA, YEIDA, GIDA and the MSME Department rather than NICDC directly.

Practical effect

For Prayagraj, the immediate effect of the July 2026 decision is administrative: the city and district have been formally placed inside the Kanpur–Prayagraj SVPEIZ hub-and-spoke zone, one of nine such zones covering the state. In locations where land is limited, multi-storey industrial complexes and flatted factory models will be developed. No site, land parcel, rate list or completion date specific to a Prayagraj SVPEIZ spoke centre has been published in the sources reviewed as of July 2026; investors and residents should treat this as an early-stage policy notification rather than a ready-to-transact land allotment, and should track the separate, already-operational NICDC IMC Prayagraj land-allotment process at Saraswati Hi-Tech City for near-term industrial plots.