Maharashtra To Provide Additional Land For Data Centre Infrastructure

Maharashtra is willing to give an additional 600 hectares of land to create data centre infrastructure on the outskirts of Mumbai, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

The land will be allocated at Taloja in Navi Mumbai and also at Khalapur in the neighbouring Raigad district, which is a part of the Mumbai Metropolitan area.

The state has already witnessed investments or announcements to create data centres, including a multi- thousand crore commitment by realty player Hiranandani recently.

According to experts, connectivity with undersea cables, low seismic activity and power availability are the prime drivers for these investments.

Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation's chief executive P Anbalagan said 100 hectares in Taloja and 500 hectares in Khalapur will be allocated for 'data centre parks' to be managed by the corporation.

"Mumbai has potential for not only becoming a data centre hub for the country but also a data centre hub for Asia Pacific," he said a meeting organised by the industry lobby Confederation of Indian Industry, according to an official statement.

It can be noted that the state government had earlier earmarked land near Khalapur to contract phone manufacturer Foxconn which has since backed out from the investment.

Anbalagan said the state was the first in the country to bring incentives for investments in the data centres, and added that investments are already afoot in the Thane-Turbhe belt on the outskirts of Mumbai.

He also said that MIDC will be bringing in a policy for converting the land into data centre parks, according to the statement.