Economic shift to NCR suburbs: WRI-India report

The report says that NCR has seen a jump in investment, employment, and income. It suggests the setting up of an NCR economic development council.

The National Capital Region has seen a shift in economic activity from the core of Delhi to the suburban NCR, a spatial analysis of the economic geography of the region suggests, according to a report by WRI India released on Tuesday.

Union minister of housing and urban affairs Hardeep Puri released the report on the second and final day of the Connect Karo 2023. (HT Photo)

Union minister of housing and urban affairs Hardeep Puri released the report on the second and final day of the Connect Karo 2023. Hindustan Times is the media partner for the event.

The report, titled “Morphology of Delhi National Capital Region’s Economic Geography and Implications for Planning”, says that NCR has seen a jump in investment, employment, and income, and stressing on the need to consolidate the economic potential of the entire region, suggests the setting up of an NCR economic development council.

To write the report, WRI collated data over the years from different sources, including three Census of India reports, four economic census reports, directory of establishments, and Delhi Development Authority (DDA) master plans, among others.

“The clear trend was a sort of hollowing out of the centre, and more economic activities shifting towards the peripheries, such as the NCR cities. However, unlike many other areas where industries completely shifted out, the area has managed to contain the activities within the region. This shows a clear need for planning from the regional perspective,” said Amitabh Kundu, senior advisor to WRI India and one of the authors of the report.

Delineating NCR into three subregions — NCT Core, CNCR (Central NCR) Periphery, and Rest of Region — the authors concluded that the core (Delhi) consistently lost employment to its periphery and to its larger rural region, both of which made significant employment gains. The peripheral CNCR districts attracted more investments and had a higher per capita income than Core NCT.

“They are not conventional political backyards, but instead serve as the focus of their respective states. Taking advantage of their proximity to Delhi, the national capital, the adjoining state governments in CNCR Periphery invested in land and infrastructure developments through public private partnerships that triggered industrial and residential developments. This has resulted in higher per capita incomes in the districts of Gurugram (in Haryana) and Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida in Uttar Pradesh) than any in other districts in their respective states. Being rapidly urbanising suburbs, however, they are yet to catch up with Core NCT in terms of infrastructure provision levels,” the report says.

Apart from recommending an NCR economic development corporation on the lines of the NCR Transport Corporation (NCRTC) to build regional economic development strategies, the authors suggested setting up of a Delhi economic development corporation to revitalise Core NCT, spatio-economic assessments to improve investment decisions and strategies to improve the participation of marginalised groups in the economy of Delhi NCR.

“Formulating a Delhi NCR Regional Plan and related strategies once in 20 years for the entire region is prescriptive and insufficient to address its dynamism and plan for its economic development needs. Delhi NCR continues to have multiplicity of laws across the participating states for economic activity with inadequate supporting infrastructure, and regional policy directives remain recommendatory. Aspects of economic development planning seen in global city-regions such as the presence of dedicated economic development councils, periodic preparation and updating of strategic economic development plans, and partnerships with the private sector are absent. Strategic intent for economic diversification, competitiveness, investment crowding, job creation, economic recovery post pandemics, and core area revitalisation is low despite Delhi NCR being India’s prime economic powerhouse,” the report said.

Experts present at the roundtable to discuss the findings of the report said the study has brought together some very important data points, and said that it highlights the need for having a nodal agency responsible for the overall economic growth of NCR that is not bound by state government differences.

“It is unclear now, but this role can be assumed by the ministry of industries or commerce. It should also be considered whether the role and scope of the NCR planning board can be increased from just planning to coordination and implementation as well,” said OP Agarwal, former joint secretary at the ministry of housing and urban affairs, and senior advisor to NITI Aayog.