Recently, India's first 'National Investment and Manufacturing Zone' was proposed to be set up in

Answer: (a) Andhra Pradesh

The first National Investment and Manufacturing Zone (NIMZ) to be cleared was at Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh. In March 2016 the Government told Lok Sabha that only two NIMZs, Prakasam (Andhra Pradesh) and Medak (Telangana), had received final approval, so Andhra Pradesh is the answer.

• ✓ (a) Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh was one of the only two NIMZs with final approval in March 2016; the other, Medak, is in Telangana, which is not among the options.
• ✗ (b) Gujarat's Ahmedabad-Dholera Investment Region was only announced as an NIMZ within the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor; it had no final approval in 2016.
• ✗ (c) Maharashtra's NIMZs (Shendra-Bidkin and Nagpur) had been announced or given in-principle approval only, not final approval.
• ✗ (d) Uttar Pradesh's sites (Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad, Auraiya, Jhansi) were also announced or at in-principle stage in 2016.
• • Since then By December 2018 three NIMZs had final approval: Prakasam (Andhra Pradesh), Sangareddy (Telangana) and Kalinganagar (Odisha), with 13 more at in-principle stage (PIB, Lok Sabha reply of 27 Dec 2018).

Remember · NIMZs are large developed manufacturing zones under the National Manufacturing Policy, 2011. Prakasam (Andhra Pradesh) and Medak (Telangana) got the first final approvals.

Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). · Report an error