Govt’s ambitious manufacturing zones land in trouble

28 May 2013 Evaluate

With many states expressing difficulty in acquiring the vast tracts of land needed to set up dedicated manufacturing zones, the government’s ambitious manufacturing thrust has run into trouble even before it could take off. Some states in north and north-east have expressed their inability to set up National Manufacturing Investment Zones (NMIZs) as it would involve either acquiring huge agricultural land or hilly terrain interspersed with plains and valleys.

Five states such as Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur and Meghalaya have written to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) requesting it to consider revising the minimum land requirement (from existing 5,000 hectare) for developing NMIZs. On the other hand, the government is no mood to reduce the minimum land requirement for NMIZs as it did for special economic zones as the NMP is relatively new and any reversal in policy at this point of time will hit the investor sentiments.

The government has introduced its ambitious national manufacturing policy (NMP) in 2011 and the proposals contained in the policy apply to manufacturing industry throughout the country. The objective of NMP is to increase the share of manufacturing to GDP from the existing 15% to 25% by 2025 and create 100 million jobs. This would be done by setting up Greenfield integrated townships or NMIZs with a minimum area of 5,000 hectare. 

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