Noida, an acronym for the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, is a planned city in the Gautam Buddh Nagar district of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the National Capital Region (NCR), it lies across the Yamuna and Hindon rivers from Delhi and forms part of the broader urban agglomeration that includes Delhi, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurugram. Noida is administered by the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, a statutory body constituted under the Uttar Pradesh Industrial Area Development Act, 1976.
| Type | Planned industrial city |
|---|---|
| State | Uttar Pradesh |
| District | Gautam Buddh Nagar |
| Region | National Capital Region (NCR) |
| Established | 17 April 1976 |
| Governing body | New Okhla Industrial Development Authority |
| Founding legislation | U.P. Industrial Area Development Act, 1976 |
| Languages | Hindi, English, Urdu, Punjabi |
| Vehicle registration | UP-16 |
The name "Noida" is an acronym derived from the authority that created and continues to administer the city. The settlement was conceived during the period of the Emergency in India under the Congress government of Uttar Pradesh, with the aim of decongesting Delhi and providing a planned industrial and residential alternative on the eastern bank of the Yamuna. Sanjay Gandhi is widely credited with championing the project during its formative phase.
Noida lies in the doab between the Yamuna and Hindon rivers. It shares borders with East Delhi to the west, Ghaziabad to the north, and the rural blocks of Gautam Buddh Nagar to the east and south. Greater Noida, a separate planned township under its own development authority, lies to the south-east and is connected to Noida by the Noida–Greater Noida Expressway. The terrain is largely flat alluvial plain typical of the western Ganges basin.
Unlike most Indian cities, Noida is not governed by a municipal corporation. Civic functions, planning, land allotment and infrastructure are handled by the New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, which is headed by a Chairman and a Chief Executive Officer, both senior officers of the Uttar Pradesh government. Law and order is administered by the Gautam Buddh Nagar Police Commissionerate, established in 2020 when Uttar Pradesh extended the police commissionerate system to the district.
Noida's economy is diversified across information technology, business process outsourcing, electronics manufacturing, automobile components, media and broadcasting, and real estate. The city hosts campuses of major Indian and multinational IT and consulting firms, as well as the headquarters and studios of several Hindi-language news channels. Sector 16A and adjacent areas, popularly known as the "media hub", concentrate a significant share of India's television news industry. Noida also forms part of an electronics manufacturing cluster recognised under the central government's Electronics Manufacturing Cluster scheme.
Noida is connected to Delhi by multiple river crossings, including the DND Flyway, the Kalindi Kunj bridge and the Chilla–Mayur Vihar route. National Highway 9 passes along its northern boundary, while the Noida–Greater Noida Expressway and the Yamuna Expressway provide high-speed links to Greater Noida and Agra respectively.
The city is served by the Blue Line of the Delhi Metro, which terminates at Noida Electronic City, and by the Magenta Line, which connects Botanical Garden to Janakpuri West. The Aqua Line, operated by the Noida Metro Rail Corporation, links Sector 51 in Noida with Depot Station in Greater Noida.
The nearest operational airport is Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi. Noida International Airport at Jewar, under construction by Yamuna International Airport Pvt. Ltd. (a subsidiary of Zurich Airport International), is intended to serve the NCR as a second major airport.
Noida hosts a number of higher-education institutions, including campuses of Amity University, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Shiv Nadar University (in Greater Noida) and the Noida campuses of national institutions and law schools. The city is also home to research and training centres of public-sector undertakings and central government bodies.
The Buddh International Circuit, located in the neighbouring Greater Noida region, hosted the Indian Grand Prix of Formula One between 2011 and 2013. The Noida Stadium and various sector-level sports complexes support cricket, football and athletics. The city's demographic composition, drawn largely from migrants across northern India, gives it a cosmopolitan character within the Hindi belt.
Noida is regarded as one of India's most prominent examples of post-Independence planned urbanisation outside Chandigarh. Its success in attracting industry and IT-enabled services has made it a template, alongside Gurugram, for satellite-city development around Delhi. The city also illustrates the model of development authorities, rather than municipal corporations, as the principal vehicle for urban governance in parts of Uttar Pradesh.