Zaheerabad Industrial Smart City (Zaheerabad IMC) — Overview

What it is

Zaheerabad Industrial Smart City — also referred to as Zaheerabad IMC, or by its older name Zaheerabad NIMZ — is a planned industrial township in Sangareddy district, Telangana. It is being developed under the Hyderabad-Nagpur Industrial Corridor (HNIC) as one of the projects under India's National Industrial Corridor Development Programme (NICDP). The project is being developed to attract industries, create jobs, improve infrastructure, and boost manufacturing growth in Telangana.

The Zaheerabad Industrial Area (ZIA) in Sangareddy district has been identified as a priority node under HNIC, and the smart-city component that has now moved to construction is the first phase of a much larger, previously notified industrial zone.

From NIMZ to Industrial Smart City — how it got here

The site's industrial history predates the current "smart city" branding. A National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) was proposed for Zaheerabad under the Congress-led UPA government's National Manufacturing Policy, with the Centre approving the Telangana NIMZ proposal in January 2016. Environmental clearance for the NIMZ followed in May 2022. Land acquisition, however, was contested for years: hundreds of farmers across several villages objected, and the Telangana High Court, on 30 August 2024, issued notices to farmers after directing that the acquisition process be restarted with a proper hearing of objections, which nullified earlier acquisition notifications.

In August 2024, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), chaired by the Prime Minister, approved a project to establish an Industrial Smart City at Zaheerabad as part of a national batch of 12 such cities, giving the long-pending project fresh Central government backing and funding under NICDP.

Who is building it

The project is being delivered through a dedicated Special Purpose Vehicle, NICDIT Zaheerabad Industrial Smart City Ltd. The Centre's National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust holds 49 per cent equity, while Telangana Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TGIIC) owns 51 per cent. Telangana's stake is contributed through land held by TGIIC, while the Centre's share is largely in cash for building internal trunk infrastructure. A Programme Manager for New Cities (PMNC) — an infrastructure consultant — has been tendered to oversee execution and coordinate with the EPC contractors on the ground.

Official area, villages and district

Two land figures are used for this project and it is important to keep them separate:

• The wider notified Industrial Node: NICDC's own project page describes the Zaheerabad Industrial Node as spanning 12,635 acres across 17 villages in Sangareddy district — the same footprint originally proposed for the NIMZ in Nyalkal and Jharasangam mandals.
• Phase 1 (the part now under construction): the industrial smart city component for which the foundation stone was laid covers 3,245 acres, developed at an estimated cost of ₹2,360.54 crore.

As of mid-2025, officials said roughly 91 per cent of the total land was already owned by the state, with the remainder under acquisition; by mid-2025 a district-level review put the figure for the broader node at around 7,300 acres acquired out of 12,630 acres required. In April 2026, the Sangareddy District Collector directed officials to complete acquisition of the 3,245-acre Phase 1 area within 45 days so it could be handed over to the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, with special survey teams deployed to villages including Elgoi, Siddapur, Chilepalli, Mungi, Rukmapur and Hadnur.

Why it exists

The project sits within India's broader push to expand manufacturing and exports: the Centre has approved the set-up of 12 new Industrial Smart Cities spanning 10 states, planned along major industrial corridors, partly to help meet an export target of $2 trillion by 2030. For Telangana specifically, officials have described Zaheerabad as a way to decentralise industrial growth away from Hyderabad into a "faraway location that also has a large rural catchment."

Target sectors identified for the site include automobile, electrical equipment, food processing, machinery and equipment, metals and non-metallic based industries, and transport equipment, alongside logistics, auto components and electronics. Zaheerabad already hosts an established automotive base — it is Mahindra & Mahindra's manufacturing hub for small tractors and some commercial vehicles — and officials have said the plan is to build on this with more automotive, EV and energy-storage investment, alongside industries able to use the site's onward port access.

Current status (as of July 2026)

The project moved from approval to ground-breaking in 2026. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the Zaheerabad Industrial Area on 10 May 2026, alongside other Telangana infrastructure projects, describing it as a cornerstone of the government's national mission to develop industrial corridors, offering global investors world-class infrastructure, power supply and ICT networks.

On the ground, a dedicated access road connecting NH-65 at Huggelli to Bardipur village in Jharasangam Mandal has already been completed and inaugurated by Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy. Land allotments have begun for anchor investors: Telangana had allotted around 500 acres to anchor clients including Korean auto major Hyundai (300 acres, for an R&D facility and test track) and aerospace & defence player VEM Technologies, with the state government separately confirming Hyundai's plans to begin operations at the site. Land acquisition for the remaining Phase-1 parcels was, as of April 2026, still being pushed to completion under district-level directives, alongside ongoing works on roads, power and other trunk infrastructure funded through Central debt of ₹655 crore for internal infrastructure and a state ask for roughly ₹500 crore toward external infrastructure such as water, power and roads.

Headline connectivity

The site is built around access to National Highway 65, which runs past it, supplemented by two state highways: SH-14 (Zaheerabad–Bidar), about 2 km from the site, and SH-16 (Nizampet–Bidar), which abuts the site directly. Rail access is via Metalkunta Railway Station (about 12 km away) and Zaheerabad Railway Station (about 19 km away).

For longer-distance and export-linked movement, the nearest international airport is at Shamshabad, roughly 125 km away, while sea access runs via the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) near Mumbai (about 600 km) and Krishnapatnam Port in Andhra Pradesh (about 620 km). A gas-pipeline tap-off point for diverting petroleum products lies about 30 km from the site. The location is also roughly 65 km from Hyderabad's Outer Ring Road, about 48 km from the proposed Regional Ring Road, and around 10 km from Bidar town across the Karnataka border — a proximity that has fed expectations in Bidar of spill-over housing and commercial demand.

What happens next

With the foundation stone laid in May 2026, the near-term focus is on finishing land handover for the 3,245-acre Phase 1 area, completing trunk infrastructure (roads, power, water, ICT) and formally onboarding anchor investors such as Hyundai and VEM Technologies. Telangana officials have set a broad target of 2029 for the project to be substantially built out and generating its projected employment of around 1.74 lakh jobs. Beyond Phase 1, the larger 12,635-acre notified Industrial Node across the 17 villages of Nyalkal and Jharasangam mandals remains the long-run canvas for further phases of industrial expansion, subject to completion of outstanding land acquisition.