The central government will support the establishment of 50 industrial parks across states in the first phase of the Rs 33,660-crore BHAVYA (Bharat Audyogik Vikas Yojna) scheme, guidelines for which were made public on Saturday.
To get central support for the proposed industrial parks, the states and Union territories will have to compete among themselves by presenting high quality viable proposals which would then be judged based on an objective criteria.
In the first round of applications, 20 parks will be approved and the time period available for submitting applications will be two months. The second window will open after the first batch of applications have been received. In the next round, applications for 30 more parks would be accepted.
“So in the next four months we are looking for applications for 50 industrial parks so that we can quickly start rolling out the scheme across the country,” Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said at a press conference on Saturday.
Funding Architecture
The scheme, approved by the Union Cabinet on March 18, provides for development of 100 industrial parks over a period of six years from 2026-27 to 2031-32 in partnership with states. The size of the parks has to be between 10 acres and 1,000 acres, and a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be floated for each of the parks. For hilly states the minimum size of an industrial park has been set at 25 acres.
The state government’s contribution will be in the form of land, while the Centre will provide the funds for industrial infrastructure. The Centre’s contribution for the parks have been capped at Rs 1 crore per acre. If the cost of land acquired by the states is less than Rs 1 crore per acre, then the Centre’s contribution will come down to that number. States can also form a JV with private players, but in that case the central support will come down to Rs 50 lakh per acre.
Funding Architecture
Normally it takes two to three years for the land to be developed. After that it takes another two years for units to start coming up. The 100 industrial parks are smaller versions of the 20 large industrial parks that are either functional or are coming up in 10 states through the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (NICDC). Of these 20, four are operational and four are in final stages of trunk infrastructure development.
Of the 12 that were approved in 2024, infrastructure work of 11 of those have already commenced.