About Nagpur

Some call it Orange City while others call it the zero mile city. Orange City because the Nagpur oranges, rather the oranges from the surrounding areas, are the best and the juiciest oranges known to the mankind. Zero mile city because Nagpur is bang in the middle of the country. The "India 0" milestone is a must see spot for the visitors to the city.

While both the nick names are correct in their own sense and for historical and emotional reasons, a practical businessman or a corporate honcho of modern times would call Nagpur a "city of opportunities". The reasons are obvious. Nagpur is an up and coming, happening city. It is all set to be a mega-city of wonder in the next 10-20 years. It's a city that can't be ignored anymore and is "must be there" city on the business map of most of the organizations.

Here are some of the reasons behind the proposed rise of the city -

The zero mile city, as the name suggests, is in heart of the country. All the 4 four metros - Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai - are almost equidistant from Nagpur. It's the largest city in the radius of 200 kms . Being the largest in the area also means it's the centre of education, commerce and services. The "catchment area" is huge.

The city is well connected to rest of the country by road, rail and air. The north-south and east-west rail routes pass through the city. So do NH-7 and NH-6, connecting the 4 metros. The airstrip is big enough to be able to land an A380 and the airport with scope for further expansion. The expansion has already been planned. The connectivity makes it a lucrative location for all the companies where logistics plays a major part. Future group already has Nagpur as their hub for distribution across the country.

Nagpur reminds one of the Bangalore of mid-80s. Wide, tree-lined roads with moderate amount of traffic. May be we have Chadrashekhar to thank for as far as roads are concerned. The city is well planned - one of the few in India with road grids and the civic amenities function well. The sparseness of traffic and presence of tree cover means very low levels of pollution.

Nagpur University boasts of 70 engineering colleges and 10 medical colleges, including an NIT. These colleges churn out a large quantity of quality engineers and doctors. Most of the educated people have migrated out due to lack of opportunities in the region. The trend is reversing though. People have started trickling back to the region with all the large IT companies set to open their shop in Nagpur. One is tempted to draw a parallel between reverse migration from developed countries to India and reverse migration from rest of the India to Nagpur.

The people in general are honest and hard-working. The educational facilities coupled with reverse migration means availability of quality manpower. The hardships involved with agriculture means the unskilled labour is hard working. The work ethics of people can be compared with the cities like Chennai.

The city is neither too big, nor too small. It has all the infrastructure and facilities that a developed city must have. At the same time, any part of the city can be reached in less than 30 mts. This ensures that one spends time in productive work and not travelling - a major issue in the larger cities.

The city caters to all kind of lifestyles. One can easily live a humble life while the spendthrifts can have a ball. It's not bound to a certain type of living and is welcoming to all.

Multi-modal International Cargo Hub and Airport or MIHAN is one the most ambitious and largest SEZ projects in India. It is the biggest economical development project currently underway in India in terms of investment. MIHAN is spread over an area of 4,354 Hectares. MIHAN is an ideal business hub, located in the geometrical centre of India and easily accessible to all the metro cities of India. A final destination for all your business related needs, supported by excellent infrastructure, easy and fast procedural systems and continuous support and service through one window operation.

MIHAN Project consists of two parts namely International airport to act as a cargo hub and a Special Economic Zone with residential zone covering a total area of 40.25 sq. km on the southern end of Nagpur. The project is financed by multiple Indian banks with total loan amount of INR 3,000 million along with investment from state government and Airports Authority of India. With a projected target of serving 14 million passengers and handle 0.87 million tonnes of cargo, this is one of largest aviation project in India.

Click here to learn more about MIHAN.

As they say, a place is made of people who occupy the place. The place in itself means nothing, zero! Nagpur is what it's people are. More often than not, the people are courteous, helpful, hard-working and business minded. The service levels are excellent and crime rates low. The city might seem a little laid back but that's on the surface. You scratch the skin and you would find some of the most dynamic, business oriented and hard-working setups. The people are comfortable with English and Hindi, apart from Marathi.

The cost of living is lower than any of the big 10 cities of India. A rupee can take you a long way here.

Nagpur is surrounded by some of the well-known tourist destinations, especially related to the wild life. Nagpur is the closest airport for wildlife sanctuaries like Tadoba, Kanha-Kisli and Bandhavgadh. These are some of the hottest destinations because of the high likelihood of tiger sighting.

Nagpur is "too hot" is kind of untrue. If you can ignore the three summer months, rest of the year has pleasant weather. Even the summer is more bearable than Chennai or Mumbai for the sheer reason that the humidity levels are much lower. If you manage your outdoor hours a little, you are fine.

All in all, Nagpur is truly a "city of opportunities". It is the Pune or Bangalore of yesteryears. Well poised for growth... one is tempted to say better poised as it does not have pitfalls like lack of infrastructure or unplanned, uncontrolled growth of the city.