Envisioned for Nagpur by 2027-28 in District Strategy Development Plan

By Kartik Lokhande

The District Strategy Development Plan (DSDP), prepared for the first time by the district administration with the help of the Indian Institute of Management-Nagpur, envisions Nagpur district to make a whopping $50 Billion contribution to Maharashtra’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the year 2027-28. For the purpose, the plan that was presented before Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister and Guardian Minister of the district during the recently held District Planning Committee meeting, envisages several measures. The major objectives of the plan for Nagpur’s growth till 2027-28 include raising per capita income of the district to 1.5 times of what is at present, increasing compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of manufacturing sector to six per cent, giving more thrust on agro-processing and increasing its contribution to 20 per cent of total primary sector, increasing CAGR of service sector to 12 per cent with focus on Information Technology (IT) and IT-Enabled Services. IIM-Nagpur has prepared the DSDP after in-depth multi-lateral consultations, following signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the institute and the administration. The MoU for DSDP was signed by Dr Vipin Itankar, District Collector, and Dr Bhimaraya Metri, Director of IIM-Nagpur, in presence of Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister, and Vijayalakshmi Bidari, Divisional Commissioner, some time ago. On the very first day of the New Year, Fadnavis chaired a meeting of the DPC during which the IIM-Nagpur made a presentation on the plan.

The DSDP for Nagpur has been made to help crystallise the district’s contribution to Maharashtra’s journey towards achieving the target of contributing $1 Trillion to India’s target of becoming a $5 Trillion economy. After making a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of the district, the plan lays a roadmap for increasing Nagpur district’s contribution to State’s GDP from Rs 1,53,027 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 3,44,600 crore in 2027-28. The target is thus, to raise Nagpur’s contribution to State’s GDP to around $50 billion. As per the plan, Nagpur has several strengths ranging from its advantageous geographically central location in the country, with increasing connectivity and footfall, metro rail coverage, abundant presence of minerals in the region, medical facilities, presence of several Government private educational institutions, good rainfall and fertile soil etc. However, there are several weaknesses too including lack of co-operative marketing, ‘neglect’ of floriculture and horticulture and high-value crops, lack of strong entrepreneurial system with ‘relative scarcity/inaccessibility’ of angel investors, moderately high crime rate, youths migrating to bigger cities for better employment opportunities, comparatively high rates of electricity and land etc, and lack of co-ordination and confusion among various Government bodies doing the same work differently creating policy/process related issues in clearances.

Having analysed that, the IIM-Nagpur has presented a list of opportunities too for Nagpur district. These opportunities, as per the DSDP, exist in cold chains, post-processing, marketing, tapping full potential of MIHAN to develop high-value agriculture-based products, export-oriented farming with Geographical Indications (GI) tag for various crops, fodder development and organic food production, ‘large capacity expansion options’ in MIHAN for IT/ITES companies, ‘very high growth rate’ in demand for real estate/infrastructure fuelling growth in associated sectors like banking and steel and architecture and furniture etc, development of aviation services ecosystem in MIHAN, metal manufacturing, development of manufacturing clusters etc.

Of course, as the plan highlights the results of SWOT analysis, it also flags ‘threats’. Among the major threats flagged in the DSDP are increasing difficulty in getting clearances from environmental bodies due to stricter regulatory requirements regarding environment and pollution, rise in man-animal conflict due to increased activity in and around forests, strong competition from neighbouring States and Western Maharashtra in attracting businesses, migration of a large proportion of young skilled resource to metro cities in search of employment, large variations in climatic conditions, fluctuating marketing prices possibly leading to glut situation, non-judicious use of natural resources, and use of farm credit mostly for personal purposes than for farming.

Proposed Budget

To achieve the goal of Nagpur district growing to the extent of contributing $50 Billion to the State’s GDP, the District Strategy Development Plan has come up with an action plan with proposals for investment in various sectors. In primary sector, the plan expects investment of Rs 2,920.71 crore. In secondary sector, the plan envisages mid-term (2024-26) investment of at least Rs 19,872 crore in manufacturing sector and industries, and Rs 2,442.76 crore in micro-small-medium enterprises. In tertiary sector, investment of Rs 14,976.17 crore is expected.