January 23, 2026: Maharashtra has announced plans to develop India’s first innovation city near the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, with Tata Sons committing an investment of Rs 91,000 crore (USD 11 billion) to build the proposed ecosystem. The announcement was made by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at the World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos on Thursday.
The proposed innovation city is envisaged as a global hub offering plug-and-play infrastructure for researchers, startups and innovators from across the world to begin operations with minimal lead time. According to Fadnavis, the broad contours of the project have been finalised, while detailed planning is expected to be undertaken over the next six months, following which on-ground work is likely to commence.
A significant component of the project will be large-scale digital infrastructure, including data centres, which will be developed as part of the Tata Sons investment. To support the high power requirements of such facilities, Maharashtra also plans to become the first state in the country to set up small modular reactors (SMRs) for atomic power generation. The move follows the passage of the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill in Parliament.
Fadnavis said the state government has already initiated discussions with nuclear energy entities in India and Russia. Electricity generated through SMRs will be used to meet the power demand of data centres and other energy-intensive infrastructure planned within the innovation city.
The concept of the innovation city emerged from discussions held during last year’s WEF, which focused on Artificial Intelligence-led innovation. “The proposal was taken up with Tata Sons chief Natarajan Chandrasekaran for initial planning. Finally, a year down the line, we are ready to announce the establishment of the innovation city in Navi Mumbai,” Fadnavis said.
He added that Maharashtra is in talks with innovators and investors from multiple countries for participation in the project. The proposal has been presented to potential investors from around 450 countries. The innovation city is planned as a sustainable urban development and is expected to position Maharashtra as a global destination for technology-led innovation.
