Dholera SIR: The Complete 2026 Guide

What Dholera SIR actually is

Dholera SIR is a greenfield industrial smart city being built in Ahmedabad district, Gujarat, about 100 km south-west of Ahmedabad. DURABLE

It is the flagship node of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and is built under the Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, 2009. It is planned over roughly 920 sq km, phased across about 30 years. DURABLE It is marketed as Dholera Smart City; the legal name is Dholera Special Investment Region.

SIR stands for Special Investment Region. Dholera is governed under the Gujarat Special Investment Region Act, 2009. DURABLE

Dholera is India's flagship greenfield industrial smart city and the largest node of the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor. DURABLE It is the site of India's first major commercial semiconductor fab (Tata Electronics with PSMC, Rs 91,000 cr, under construction) and a large solar park, which is why it draws national attention. DURABLE Some media call it India's Shanghai; that is a media label, not an official claim.

Where it is and how big

Dholera is in Dholera taluka, Ahmedabad district, Gujarat, on the western coast of the Gulf of Khambhat (Cambay). It is flat, low-lying coastal land known as the Bhal region. DURABLE

It sits about 100 km south-west of Ahmedabad, connected by the roughly 109 km Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway. DURABLE The SIR was formed from 22 villages of Dholera taluka.

Dholera SIR spans about 920 sq km of planned area (~360 sq mi). DURABLE Of that, roughly 580 sq km is developable and about 422 sq km is set for urban development; about one-third of the developable land sits in the Coastal Regulation Zone. REPORTED

The build is phased over about 30 years. The often-quoted comparison to being several times the size of a large city refers to this 920 sq km planning envelope, not built-up area.

Of the ~920 sq km planned, about 580 sq km is developable and ~422 sq km is set for urban development, because a large share of the coastal land falls in the Coastal Regulation Zone and other buffers (green belt, agriculture, village buffers). REPORTED The CRZ share (about a third of developable land) limits where construction can happen, which is a real planning constraint, not a marketing footnote.

Who owns and runs it

Planning and land are handled by DSIRDA (the statutory authority). The city itself is built by DICDL, Dholera Industrial City Development Ltd, a special purpose vehicle incorporated on 28 January 2016. DURABLE

DICDL is owned 51% by the Gujarat government (via DSIRDA) and 49% by the Centre (via the NICDC Trust), which gives the project dual-government backing. DURABLE NICDC, the National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation, is the central nodal agency.

DICDL, the development company, is owned 51% by the Gujarat government (via DSIRDA) and 49% by the Centre (via the NICDC Trust). DURABLE This dual-government structure is often cited as a stability signal.

The master plan in brief

There are six Town Planning schemes, TP1 to TP6, all with draft schemes sanctioned. REPORTED

By phase (sanctioned plan figures): Phase I is TP1 + TP2 = 153 sq km (planned 2012-2022); Phase II is TP3 + TP4 = 126 sq km (2023-2032); Phase III is TP5 + TP6 = 142 sq km (2033-2042). Together about 422 sq km. REPORTED The individual TP3-versus-TP4 split is not separately stated.

The Activation Area is the roughly 22.5 sq km phase-1 plug-and-play zone inside Town Planning Scheme 2, where the trunk infrastructure was built first. DURABLE The NICDC ledger reports its trunk infrastructure works as complete. REPORTED It is about 4.25% of the developable land. An older 2020 target of about 120,000 residents and 80,000 jobs for this zone has lapsed.

Is it actually being built?

There are documented, dated anchors on the ground. The Tata semiconductor fab (Rs 91,000 cr) is under construction and reported past the halfway mark. REPORTED About 300 MW of solar is commissioned. DURABLE The Ahmedabad-Dholera Expressway is reported operational (March 2026), and Activation-Area trunk infrastructure is reported complete. REPORTED

Being honest about the other side: timelines here have slipped repeatedly, land acquisition was litigated, and most of the 920 sq km is still to be built. So it is neither vaporware nor finished; it is an early-stage build with real, sourced anchors.

Yes, delays are documented and we do not hide them. The DMIC was announced around 2009, land transfers ran 2011-15, then the Gujarat High Court stayed the SIR land acquisition in 2015 after farmer petitions, and a 2017 report found only about 290 of 900+ sq km then secured. REPORTED Business Standard called the DMIC 'a tale of abandonments and delays' in 2017.

The counter to 'nothing is happening' is equally real: the Tata fab is under construction, ~300 MW solar is operational, and the expressway and Activation-Area trunk infrastructure are reported done. Both things are true at once.