Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Noida to be developed as 'financial cities'

The Uttar Pradesh government is planning to develop Lucknow, Ghaziabad and Noida as ‘financial cities’ to position the state as a preferred investment destination in South Asia. To do so, the state will partner with private sector companies to develop domain specific cities/townships, such as financial cities, medi-cities, edu-cities, film cities etc.

According to a concept paper by the Yogi Adityanath government, while Lucknow, Ghaziabad, and Noida will be developed as financial cities, medi-cities have been planned in Gorakhpur, Agra, Lucknow, Kanpur, Bareilly, and Chitrakoot districts. Similarly, film cities have been proposed in Gorakhpur, Ghaziabad, and Lucknow.

“The total investment potential in the UP real estate and housing sector has been pegged at $25-$30 billion,” a senior state government official said.

The new township policy, integrated township policy and affordable housing policy are pitched as the key enablers of these targets.

The government is targeting to develop more than 100 new townships over the next five years to decongest big cities, curb migration, and facilitate planned urbanisation. For example, satellite and twin cities have been planned near major cities, including Lucknow, Ayodhya, Agra, Noida, Bareilly, Gorakhpur, Jhansi Mathura, Meerut, Moradabad, Prayagraj, and Kanpur.

Industrial townships have been proposed in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Agra, Hapur, Lucknow, Kanpur, Unnao, Hardoi, Gorakhpur, and Chitrakoot districts.

The state has drafted the blueprint of a State Capital Region (SCR) on the lines of Delhi-NCR. The SCR will have an area of 28,000 sq km and include eight districts – Lucknow, Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Unnao, Sitapur, Rae Bareli, and Barabanki.

Earlier, Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) invited bids for preparing a feasibility study-cum-detailed project report (DPR) for a proposed 100-acre fintech park in Noida. The park will be developed in Noida Sector 13 and provide a state-of-the-art ecosystem for the growth of the financial domain companies.

It will facilitate stock exchanges, stock brokers, crowdfunding, angel funding, banking, insurance, digital money, digital economy, financial R&D, capital markets etc and provide peripheral facilities such as hospitality, commercial spaces and data centres.

Currently, there are about 240 fintech startups in the Noida-Greater Noida region in digital lending, payments, blockchain, and digital wealth management sectors.