Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor

The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project (DMICDC) is a planned industrial development project between India's capital, Delhi and its financial hub, Mumbai. It is one of the world's largest infrastructure projects with an estimated investment of US$90 billion and is planned as a high-tech industrial zone spread across six states, Delhi being a Union Territory, across the 1,500 km long Western Dedicated Freight Corridor which serves as its backbone.

It includes 24 industrial regions, eight smart cities, two airports, five power projects, two mass rapid transit systems, and two logistical hubs. The eight investment regions proposed to be developed in Phase I of DMIC are Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad (in UP), Manesar-Bawal (in Haryana), Khushkhera-Bhiwadi-Neemrana and Jodhpur-Pali-Marwar (in Rajasthan), Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow (in MP), Ahmedabad-Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR) in Gujarat, the Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park, and Dighi Port Industrial Area in Maharashtra.

The project has received a major boost from India and Japan, due to an agreement to set up a project development fund with an initial size of ₹1,000 crore (US$155.9 million). The Japanese and Indian governments are likely to contribute equally. The work is progressing at a rapid pace, with the dedicated freight corridor expected to be completed by December 2019.

The genesis of the project goes back to China's preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which triggered a diversion of India's iron ore exports from Japan to China, in order to feed the increased infrastructure requirements for the then upcoming games. Japan, which was importing large quantities of iron ore from India, was negatively affected as it had to maintain a reliable source of iron ore imports to feed its long established industrial sector. Efforts to procure ore from alternate sources in India were logistically difficult and not cost effective. This inspired the then Japanese Ambassador to India, to raise the idea of building an efficient freight corridor along the lines of the Tokyo – Osaka corridor (Taiheiyō Belt).

Anand Sharma from The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has proposed the establishment of a US$90 Billion revolving fund with matching contribution from India and Japan to kick-start the implementation process of the US$90 billion Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project. The ambitious project will be funded through private-public partnership and foreign investment. Japan will be a major investor for this project. The corridor will span 1483 km.$4.5 billion was being initially funded by the Japanese government as a loan for a period of 40 years at a nominal interest of 0.1%. The industrial corridor project will be implemented by the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, an autonomous body composed of government and the private sector.

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