Noida

Noida (New Okhla Industrial Development Authority) is a planned city in Gautam Buddha Nagar district, Uttar Pradesh, developed as part of India’s push for modern urban and industrial townships. It was officially created on 17 April 1976 under the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act, 1976, during the Emergency period, and 17 April is still celebrated as Noida Day.

The city’s original purpose was to decongest Delhi by shifting polluting and space-intensive industries to a newly designed township on the Yamuna floodplain, south-east of the capital. Planned sectors, wide roads and dedicated industrial pockets were laid out by the Noida Authority as part of a modern satellite-city vision.

Through the 1980s–2000s, Noida evolved from mainly industrial estates to a mixed industrial–residential–commercial hub, drawing IT parks, electronics and auto units, media houses and large housing complexes. It is now classified as a special economic zone (SEZ) and has one of the highest per-capita incomes in Uttar Pradesh.

Today Noida forms part of Delhi NCR, linked by expressways and metro, known for corporate offices, malls and institutions, while debates continue on upgrading its governance from an industrial authority town to a full metropolitan city.