Maharashtra sees over $300 bn investment interest in data centres

Maharashtra has received more than $300 billion of investment interest in data centres and currently accounts for 66 per cent of India’s data centre capacity, Kaustubh Dhavse, chief advisor, investments and strategy, to the chief minister of Maharashtra, said on Thursday.

Speaking at the Naredco Real Estate & Infrastructure Investors’ Summit 2026 in Mumbai, Dhavse said data centres were among the key opportunities for Maharashtra’s next phase of growth.

He said the state would have 5.7 gigawatts (GW) of data centre capacity by 2032.

Data centres require two fundamental things — power and water — Dhavse said, adding that Maharashtra was taking these opportunities head-on.

He also highlighted the development of “Mumbai 3.0”, which he said would span 336 square kilometres, as an opportunity to drive growth.

The state is also developing a healthcare city anchored by Cleveland Clinic across 165 acres, while a 210-acre university development will house 12 foreign universities, seven of which have signed agreements, he said.

Meanwhile, Niranjan Hiranandani, chairman of Naredco India, said the organisation had approached the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), seeking that townships spread over more than 25-50 acres be treated as infrastructure.

Hiranandani added that developers could not use short-term borrowings for long-term infrastructure projects such as real estate developments and townships.

He also said the real estate sector would grow by 15 per cent this year. However, he flagged concerns over affordable housing, saying it had declined by 20 per cent over the past two years.

He called for the creation of rental housing and said both the government and the industry needed to focus on the issue.

The real estate sector is also facing a shortage of 2 million skilled construction workers, Hiranandani said. Over the next five years, the industry would need another 5 million skilled construction workers, he added.

Dhavse said Maharashtra, which currently has a $660 billion economy, has set a target of becoming a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

The state has grown at about 10.2 per cent over the past seven years, excluding the Covid-19 years, but would need to grow at about 13.8 per cent over the next few years to reach the target.