Glossary

Activation area

The first slice of Dholera actually being built, roughly 22.5 sq km of the much larger region. When people say construction has started at Dholera, this is almost always the piece they mean.

Allotment

The moment a plot inside the region is formally assigned to a company by the development authority. An allotment is a real transfer of rights, which is why it is a better progress measure than an announcement.

Bigha

A local land unit used across north and west India. It is not standard: in this part of Gujarat it is roughly 2,500 square yards, and it changes from district to district. Always ask for the figure in square metres before you agree to anything.

CCEA

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. The central government committee that signs off large spending decisions, such as the Ahmedabad to Dholera rail line.

DGCA

Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The regulator that licenses an airport. An airport can look finished and still not be allowed to open until the DGCA says so.

DIACL

Dholera International Airport Company Limited. The company building and running the airport. The Airports Authority of India holds 51 percent, Gujarat 33 percent and NICDC 16 percent.

DICDL

Dholera Industrial City Development Limited. The company laying the roads, water and power inside the activation area. Gujarat holds 51 percent through DSIRDA and the central government 49 percent through the NICDC Trust.

DMU report

Delivery Monitoring Unit report. A quarterly progress return in which the central corridor agency states, on the record, how much money has been approved and how much land has been allotted. It is the least promotional document available about Dholera.

DSIRDA

Dholera Special Investment Region Development Authority. The planning authority for the region, in the way a municipal corporation is for a city.

Fab

Short for fabrication plant, the factory where blank silicon wafers are turned into finished chips. The Tata Electronics fab is the largest single project at Dholera.

Final plot

The plot an owner receives back at the end of a town planning scheme. It is smaller than the land that went in, because part of the area becomes roads and public space, but it is serviced and has a clear boundary.

GUJRERA

The Gujarat Real Estate Regulatory Authority, at gujrera.gujarat.gov.in. Residential and commercial projects must be registered with it, and the register is public. If a project you are being sold is not on it, that is the first question to ask.

India Semiconductor Mission

The central government programme that approves chip projects and pays part of their cost. It is the scheme under which the Dholera fab was cleared.

Jantri

The Gujarat government's official reference rate for land and property, used to calculate stamp duty and registration charges. It is a tax reference table, not a market price, and the two can differ widely in either direction.

MoU

Memorandum of understanding. A signed statement that two parties intend to explore or do something. It is not a contract to build and the number in it is not money spent. Many of the largest figures quoted about Dholera come from these.

NA conversion

Non-agricultural conversion. The permission that has to be granted before farmland can legally be used for building. Land sold as a plot without it is still agricultural land.

NICDC

National Industrial Corridor Development Corporation. The central body running the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, the programme of industrial cities along the route between Delhi and Mumbai. Dholera is its largest site.

Node (28 nm, 90 nm)

The process generation a chip factory runs, measured in nanometres. Smaller numbers mean newer and more expensive processes. Dholera's fab is planned for mature generations rather than cutting-edge ones, and is expected to start mostly at 90 nm.

PIB

Press Information Bureau. The central government's official release service. A PIB release carries a release ID and is a primary source, which is why we cite the ID.

SEZ

Special Economic Zone. An area formally notified so that goods entering and leaving it get different customs and tax treatment. It matters for a chip factory, which imports most of its equipment.

SIR

Special Investment Region. A large industrial zone with its own planning authority and its own rules, created under a Gujarat law passed in 2009. Dholera SIR is one of these, not a municipality.

Tenure

The legal class of a piece of land, meaning what its owner is allowed to do with it and whether it can be sold freely. Some agricultural tenures in Gujarat restrict who may buy, so tenure is checked before price.

TP scheme

Town planning scheme. The process where a planning authority pools the land in an area, lays out roads and services across the whole of it, and returns a smaller serviced plot to each original owner. It is how most of urban Gujarat gets built.

Wafer starts per month

How a chip factory's size is stated: the number of blank silicon discs it begins processing each month. It is a capacity figure, not a production figure, so it describes the plant rather than its output.