State, Tata group to establish ‘Innovation City’ near NMIA: CM

The chief minister is visiting the Swiss city to attend the World Economic Forum, where the state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Sons on Wednesday

Mumbai: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday announced that an Innovation City will be established in collaboration with the Tata Group near the Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA), which will act as a model for developing similar hubs in tier-two cities and position Maharashtra as a leading state in artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and Global Capability Centres (GCC).

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with Tata Sons Chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting, in Davos, Switzerland. (PTI)

“We have identified land for the Innovation City and will create robust infrastructure there. Companies that are interested in investing will also be allotted land there,” Fadnavis said while addressing an online press conference from Davos.

The chief minister is visiting the Swiss city to attend the World Economic Forum, where the state government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tata Sons on Wednesday. The company will invest ₹1.01 lakh crore ($11 billion) to build an AI-based data centre near the NMIA, which will play a key role in doubling the state’s economic growth, he said.

On Wednesday, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), which is part of the state government-led consortium, also signed a ₹1.37 lakh crore ($15 billion) MoU for sustainable industrial development in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) under the Bharat-Switzerland collaboration (B-SWISS-MMR).

Fadnavis reiterated that the Raigad-Pen growth city, a business district like the Bandra Kurla Complex, would be part of Third Mumbai.

“Ten companies from the United States, Switzerland, Dubai and Finland have come forward with investment proposals worth ₹1 lakh crore in various sectors including GCC and fintech,” he said.

The chief minister said plans were afoot to create a circular economy in Mumbai which would create wealth from waste and improve air and water quality in the city.

“We are getting private investment in this sector and the project could be replicated in other smaller cities including Pune and Nagpur,” he said.

Referring to criticism regarding the state government signing MoUs with Indian companies in Davos, Fadnavis alleged that people who cannot stand the development of Maharashtra had created a toolkit which was being used to defame the state government.

“Most of the posts were similar…I know who these people are. Some of them are paid workers and we have taken cognisance. I do not want to give more importance to them, but we have given them an answer by fructifying 75% of the MoUs signed during WEF 2025,” Fadnavis said.

Some companies which had signed MoUs last year had backed out due to the geo-political situation, he mentioned.

“The realisation of agreements take 3-7 years, but we have created a robust system by making land and other support available,” the chief minister told reporters.

Explaining why MoUs were being signed with Indian companies in Davos, he said the MoUs involved 83% foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign partners would help substitute imports by bringing in foreign technology.

“Indian companies are signing MoUs in Davos as they have global presence and can attract foreign capital, which is cheaper than domestic funding,” he added.

The Abhishek Lodha-led Lodha group will set up a data centre in Navi Mumbai with 80% FDI, and the company’s 20% equity will be in the form of land, the chief minister noted.

Apart from MoUs worth ₹30 lakh crore signed during the first three days of WEF, additional agreements worth ₹10 lakh crore were in the pipeline and were expected to be inked in the next two months, he said.