Faridabad is a city and a municipal corporation in Faridabad district in the state of Haryana, India. It is a major industrial city and population centre. The city was founded in 1607 by Shaikh Farid, treasurer of Jahangir, with the object of protecting the highway which passed through the town. He built a fort, a tank and a mosque which are now in ruins. It also had a sarai, a travelers' lodge, that served as a last stop for travelers to Delhi. Later, it became the headquarters of a pargana which was held in jagir by the Ballabgarh ruler.

Faridabad became the 12th district of Haryana on 15 August 1979, when Gurgaon district was bifurcated on August 15, 1979 and a new district of Faridabad comprising the tahsils of Ballabgarh and Palwal was formed. In this adjustment, 98 villages formerly in Nuh tahsil, 31 villages formerly in Ballabgarh tahsil and 3 villages formerly in the Gurgaon tahsil were shifted to Palwal tahsil. As 98 villages, transferred from Nuh tahsil, constituted the Hathin sub-tahsil and another group of 72 villages was formed into Hodal sub-tahsil.

Faridabad is about 25 Kilometres south of Delhi at 28° 25' 16" North and 77° 18' 28" East. It has an average elevation of 198 metres (649 ft). It is bounded by the National Capital Territory of Delhi on its north, Gurgaon District on the west, and Uttar Pradesh state on its east and south.

The city is located on the plains of the Yamuna river. It is bordered by the Yamuna to the east and Aravali Hills towards the west and southwest. Today, virtually all of the land has been developed with residential housing as the population of the city swelled during the mid 90s.

Much like the rest of India, the people of Faridabad rely on ground water for their basic needs which is the gift of good monsoon season.

Some of the tourist places of Faridabad are as follows:

• Badkhal Lake tourist complex
• Suraj Kund Tourist Complex
• Aravali Golf Club
• Raja Nahar Singh Palace, etc.

Faridabad is basically and industrial city. It is often called Industrial Capital of Haryana. Faridabad generates about 60% of the revenue of the Haryana state. 50% of the income tax collected in Haryana is from Faridabad and Gurgaon.

Faridabad is famous for henna production, while tractors, motorcycles, switch gears, refrigerators, shoes and tyres are other famous industrial products of the city. It is home to hundreds of large scale companies like JCB,Escorts,Knorr Bremse,ACE etc.

Agriculture: Wheat was grown in Faridabad before but the agriculture has since moved towards the villages of Haryana as Faridabad saw a boom in the population in the early 90s. Almost all of agricultural land has been taken over by the residential housing. However, the 'Anaaj Mandi' (Grain Market) of heritage value still exists in Old Faridabad.

As of 2001 India census, Faridabad had a population of 1,054,981. Males constitute 55% of the population and females 45%. Faridabad has an average literacy rate of 69%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 75%, and female literacy is 60%. In Faridabad, 15% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Old Faridabad, as the northern and oldest part of the city is known, is home to people whose families might have been living in the area for centuries. The ancestry of people is mostly Jats and people from the state of Uttar Pradesh and villages in Haryana.

The western part of the city is called New Industrial Town (abbreviated as NIT). It was built after 1947 for the people who were relocating in India from Pakistan after the Partition of India. Thus most of the people here share their ancestry with modern day Pakistan's regions of Dera Ismail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Bannu, and Kohat. The rapid growth of the city also brought immigrants to the city from other parts of the country.It is said that city was initially planned only for 300,000 people but the total population of the city is well over 2 million today.

Transport in Faridabad:

• RAIL TRANSPORT:

  Faridabad is on broad gauge of New Delhi- Mumbai Line. New Delhi and Hazrat Nizammudin Railway Station is about 25 km from Faridabad Station. The trains for big cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad are easily accessible from here. Local Trains runs between New Delhi to Faridabad.

  There are three railway stations in the city viz. Faridabad (FDB), New Town Faridabad (FDN) and Ballabgarh (BVH). Earlier it was the last station of central railway, but now it has been taken in Northern railway. It is a very high revenue generating source for railways as thousands of people move daily in local trains to and from Delhi for education/professions.

• ROAD TRANSPORT:

  The National Highway-2 (Delhi-Mathura Road) passes through the city, and thus it is well connected to nearby states. Roadways services of Haryana (Haryana Roadways) and neighbouring states like Delhi Transport Corporation, Uttar Pardesh Transport Department, Madhya Pradesh Transport Department, etc. are easily accessible. Delhi Metro Rail is likely to cover the city by 2012 as proposed by the Government of Delhi.

• AIR TRANSPORT

  Faridabad is served by Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi and Palam Domestic Airport, New Delhi.