Prestige Estates Projects Ltd. part of Bengaluru-based property developer Prestige Group, has entered into a strategic investment deal worth Rs 12,500 crores, with the government of the western Indian state of Maharashtra. They have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a data centre, a global competency centre (GCC), and a logistics facility.
In a press release, the developer and Maharashtra government said that the investment is expected to generate around 8,700 direct jobs as well as thousands of indirect opportunities. Out of the total planned investment, Rs 5000 crores have been earmarked for developing a data center in Taloja in Navi Mumbai, which itself is expected to create 1200 job opportunities.
As far as the rest of the investment is concerned, Rs 5,000 crore will fund a 100-acre GCC in Navi Mumbai, projected to create 5,000 direct work roles. Additionally, over Rs 2,500 crore will be invested in a mega logistics and industrial park in Khalapur, which is likely to generate 2,500 employment. The three projects are expected to commence in 2026.
“Our proposed investments will not only create jobs and attract global talent but also strengthen Maharashtra’s position as the foremost destination for business and innovation in India,” Prestige Group executive director Zayd Noaman said.
Maharashtra’s ambitious plans to become a digital infrastructure hub
Today, cities in Maharashtra like Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai, and especially the industrial belts such as Bhiwandi and Taloja, are home to data centers by national and internal players such as Amazon Web Services, AdaniConnex, Colt Data Centers, CtrlS Datacenters, Equinix, Nxtra by Airtel, NTT, Reliance, Sify, STT Global Data Centers, and Yotta, among others. Pune is another information technology and digital infrastructure hub.
Readers would recall that Maharashtra has been showcasing ambitious digital transformation goals for several years. Most recently, it signed an MoU with CapitaLand Investment Limited (CLI), a global real asset manager, attracting an investment of over Rs. 19,200 crores (~US$ 2.19 billion) by 2030, to drive CLI’s growth in Mumbai and Pune.
Before that, in January this year, it had entered into two separate agreements cumulatively worth US$ 6 billion with Blackstone, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) that concluded recently at Davos. The first is a US$ 3 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), and the second is also a MoU worth US$ 3 billion, this time with the City & Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra (CIDCO) to develop data centers in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR).
