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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Thursday, January 22, announced the establishment of an 'Innovation City' near the Navi Mumbai Airport.
The Tata Group is expected to invest about $11 billion to develop the city and a data centre, Fadnavis said.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Summit 2026 being held in Switzerland's Davos.
"The Innovation City will bring global innovation ecosystems to Mumbai. Our goal is to make Mumbai a hub where anyone in the world can easily access a plug-and-play innovation system. Tata Sons has committed $11 billion to develop the Innovation City, including a data centre," Fadnavis told news agency ANI.
Terming it as Maharashtra's dream project, the Maharashtra CM Office (CMO) said that this "future-ready hub" will place Maharashtra at the heart of artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and Global Capability Centres (GCC).
"As technology reshapes the world economy, Maharashtra is building a responsible, world-class innovation ecosystem that will directly benefit our people and strengthen the state’s economic future," the CMO said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).
"Conceived as a bold, future-ready ecosystem, Innovation City will anchor cutting-edge research, breakthrough technologies, and high-impact, innovation-led enterprises, positioning Maharashtra at the forefront of AI-driven growth and next-generation development on the global stage," it added.
However, the plan seemed to have received a mixed response from the netizens. A few users on X raised questions on the plan over its size, and even mentioning the previous smart city projects still hanging.
"The size is 100 acres and you call it a city?" user @Sonarkailash1 questioned. "How many of the 100 smart cities promised last time, and after spending almost 1000 crores, were built?? Only false hollow promises," another user @VikramPoonja said.
"WTF is this!! After grand failure of "smart city" now a new buzz word "innovation city" to sell lies and earn money. All politicians of all parties are same. Party with no difference," user @0utlooks posted.
Other users praised the project by calling it a small step in right direction, and the state setting a new goal.
The Tata Group is expected to invest about $11 billion to develop the city and a data centre, Fadnavis said.
The announcement was made on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) Summit 2026 being held in Switzerland's Davos.
"The Innovation City will bring global innovation ecosystems to Mumbai. Our goal is to make Mumbai a hub where anyone in the world can easily access a plug-and-play innovation system. Tata Sons has committed $11 billion to develop the Innovation City, including a data centre," Fadnavis told news agency ANI.
Terming it as Maharashtra's dream project, the Maharashtra CM Office (CMO) said that this "future-ready hub" will place Maharashtra at the heart of artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors and Global Capability Centres (GCC).
CM Devendra Fadnavis announces Maharashtra’s dream project, the ‘Innovation City’, a landmark collaboration with the Tata Group. Rising near the Navi Mumbai
International Airport, this future-ready hub will place Maharashtra at the heart of AI, semiconductors and GCC.
As… pic.twitter.com/YDiMNGyW9l
— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) January 21, 2026
"As technology reshapes the world economy, Maharashtra is building a responsible, world-class innovation ecosystem that will directly benefit our people and strengthen the state’s economic future," the CMO said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter).
"Conceived as a bold, future-ready ecosystem, Innovation City will anchor cutting-edge research, breakthrough technologies, and high-impact, innovation-led enterprises, positioning Maharashtra at the forefront of AI-driven growth and next-generation development on the global stage," it added.
#WATCH | World Economic Forum, Davos | Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis says, "Today, we made a significant announcement. Last year in Davos, our theme was AI and the Innovation Ecosystem, which inspired us to propose creating an innovation city in Maharashtra. I discussed this… pic.twitter.com/X44QF4sHiG
— ANI (@ANI) January 22, 2026
However, the plan seemed to have received a mixed response from the netizens. A few users on X raised questions on the plan over its size, and even mentioning the previous smart city projects still hanging.
"The size is 100 acres and you call it a city?" user @Sonarkailash1 questioned. "How many of the 100 smart cities promised last time, and after spending almost 1000 crores, were built?? Only false hollow promises," another user @VikramPoonja said.
"WTF is this!! After grand failure of "smart city" now a new buzz word "innovation city" to sell lies and earn money. All politicians of all parties are same. Party with no difference," user @0utlooks posted.
Other users praised the project by calling it a small step in right direction, and the state setting a new goal.
