This is a 1,483 km long dedicated freight corridor that will pass through states like Uttar Pradesh, NCR, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. A band of 150 km on each side of the freight corridor will be developed as an industrial corridor.

Six investment regions and six industrial areas will be developed along this corridor during phase 1 (2008-2012). These will be developed as self-sustaining industrial townships with world-class infrastructure, road and railway connectivity for freight movement to and from ports and logistic hubs.

Ten cities having a population of more than 10 lakh fall within the project influence area (PIA) of DMIC: Delhi, Mumbai, Faridabad, Meerut, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Pune, and Nasik. It is expected that these cities will see a lot of development of industrial infrastructure, setting up and enhancement of existing industrial estates, setting up of ITITES and biotech hubs, development of integrated logistic hubs, sea ports, and integrated townships. Some cities, like and Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Nasik and Vadodara lie both within the influence area of DMIC, and are also major nodes on the Golden Quadrilateral project.

These cities are expected to witness large-scale real estate development because of improved accessibility and the availability of large land parcels.