Mumbai, Jun 25 (PTI) Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant on Thursday told the legislative council that an expert panel will be set up to study the impact of data centres on human life.
While Maharashtra
aims to create 30 to 40 GW of data center capacity and retain its position as India's leading data center hub, drinking water will not be diverted for this sector, he assured.
Replying to a calling attention motion raised by Shiv Sena's Manisha Kayande, Samant said the government will request former Atomic Energy Commission chairman Dr Anil Kakodkar to head the panel which will have officials from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority, City And Industrial Development Corporation and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Principal Secretary (Industries) will be its coordinator, the minister said.
Raising the issue, Kayande and some other members expressed concerns about the impact of data centres on human lives, especially in view of their huge energy and water requirements.
Samant said the state has framed the 2026 Green Data Centre Policy.
"While data centres are being built, we have to see there is no impact on human lives. So we have decided to form a committee. We will request Anil Kakodkar to be the chairman," Samant said.
A team of officials will also visit Abu Dhabi where the world's largest data centre has been set up and where the temperature can be as high as 50 degrees Celsius, and study its impact, he said.
In the coming years, approval will be given for the development of about 20 Integrated Green Data Center Parks with a minimum investment of Rs 30,000 crore each. It will be mandatory to ensure that at least half the energy used for core data center operations in these parks comes from green energy sources, the minister said.
Maharashtra is the leading state in India's data center sector, Samant said, adding 44 data center projects involving investments of Rs 96,691 crore are under development in the state. These projects are expected to create nearly 32,600 MW of capacity and generate employment opportunities, direct and indirect, for more than 1.46 lakh people, he said.
Of these, 28 projects are currently under implementation, involving investments of about Rs 77,637 crore, and are expected to generate nearly 1 lakh jobs. Sixteen projects are in the planning stage, with an additional proposed investment of about Rs 19 lakh crore. Land has already been allotted to some projects, while several others are being developed on private land. Land acquisition and identification processes are underway for the remaining projects, Samant said.
Data centers require large quantities of water for cooling systems, along with an uninterrupted power supply, the minister said.
Keeping this mind, the government held meetings in May 2025 and decided to create a land bank and identify suitable locations outside Navi Mumbai for future data center development besides establishing new power substations, he said.
Decision was also taken to ensure renewable energy availability for data centers over the next five years, Samant added.
Drinking water will not be provided to data centres, he assured.
Wastewater from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region will be provided to data centres, he said.
For data centers proposed in MIDC's TTC Industrial Area, an additional 100 MLD (million liters per day) of water is required. It is estimated that future industrial and data center projects in the region will require approximately 200 MLD of water per day. To meet this demand, plans have been made to treat and reuse wastewater generated in the municipal areas of Thane, Navi Mumbai, Panvel and CIDCO, Samant said.
The proposed Integrated Green Data Center Parks in the state are expected to draw investments from major companies and groups such as the Adani Group, Lodha Developers, CtrlS Data Centers, Avaada Group, Amazon, Blackstone Group, JW Global Group and Yotta Services.
Through these projects, investments worth approximately Rs 16 to 20 lakh crore are expected, the minister said. PTI PR KRK
