NICDC and FITT-IITD Join Hands to Foster Greenfield Industrial Smart Cities

New Delhi: In a significant stride towards leveraging advanced technology and research to bolster India’s industrial infrastructure, the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation Limited (NICDC) under the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, and the Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer at the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (FITT-IITD), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi, on 26th February 2024. The collaboration aims to evaluate the optimality of locations for the development of Greenfield Industrial Smart Cities in India, leveraging the principles and framework of PM GatiShakti.

Led by Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh, Secretary of DPIIT, the MoU marks a crucial move towards utilizing cutting-edge technology and research to enhance India’s industrial landscape. The collaboration enables both organizations to leverage each other’s strengths in their respective domains.

The signing ceremony was attended by Col. Naveen Gopal, COO (FITT, IIT Delhi), Prof. Nomesh Bolia, Prof. Sanjeev Deshmukh, Deepak Gautam, Shri Pratik Badgujar, and officials from NICDC.

Expressing optimism about the transformative potential of the partnership, Shri Rajat Kumar Saini, IAS, CEO, and MD of NICDC, stated, “By leveraging advanced technologies and research expertise, we aim to identify locations conducive to industrial development, thereby attracting investments, promoting local commerce, and generating employment opportunities.”

NICDC and FITT-IITD will collaborate to assess optimal locations for developing greenfield industrial smart cities across India, utilizing the spatial and analytical data tools of PM GatiShakti, National Master Plan portal. This initiative aligns with India’s vision to emerge as a global manufacturing hub, emphasizing the importance of data-driven decision-making in sustainable futuristic urban planning and development.

Under the MOU, FITT-IITD will leverage its technological prowess and research capabilities to analyze various factors influencing location optimality. These factors include ease of business, living costs, logistic costs, multi-modal connectivity, ease of living index, living costs, potential of particular industry(s), raw-material availability, and sustainability. The comprehensive report produced as a result of this collaboration will serve as a guiding framework for future urban planning decisions, facilitating the development of greenfield cities tailored to meet the evolving needs of industry and society.

As India aims to become a $5 trillion economy, initiatives like this underscore the importance of technology, research, and collaborative efforts in building a robust and sustainable future, crucial for achieving the goal of “Viksit Bharat” (developed India).