Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur, India’s first major planned industrial city, was born from the vision of Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata, founder of the Tata Group. In the early 1900s, Jamsetji dreamed of building a modern steel plant and an accompanying model town with wide roads, clean water, gardens and good housing for workers—very different from the crowded industrial towns of that time. After geological surveys, a site near the villages of Sakchi and Kalimmti in the Chotanagpur plateau (then in Bihar, now Jharkhand) was chosen for its iron ore, coal and water proximity.

The Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), now Tata Steel, started construction around 1907–1908, and the first steel ingots rolled out by 1912. A railway connection, rivers Subarnarekha and Kharkai, and nearby coalfields helped the plant and town grow quickly. Sakchi township developed with planned streets, parks and civic amenities; later it was renamed Jamshedpur in honour of Jamsetji Tata by Lord Chelmsford in 1919.

Through both World Wars and after Independence, Jamshedpur became a symbol of Indian industrial self-reliance, supplying steel for railways, infrastructure and defence. The city expanded with schools, hospitals, sports facilities and Jubilee Park, all managed largely by Tata Steel as a company town. Today, Jamshedpur remains one of India’s best-known industrial cities, noted for its relatively high quality of urban services and strong corporate–community link.