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By:

Bhalchandra Chorghade

11 August 2025 at 1:54:18 pm

Robust infra, surging demand, key reasons for boom

MMR A Data Centre Hub, Part – I Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is rapidly emerging as the epicentre of India’s data centre revolution, with a combination of strategic location advantages, robust infrastructure and surging demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing driving unprecedented investment into the region. As India’s data centre industry gears up to cross 3 gigawatts (GW) of operational capacity by 2028, according to CBRE’s 2026 Asia Pacific Data Centre...

Robust infra, surging demand, key reasons for boom

MMR A Data Centre Hub, Part – I Mumbai: The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) is rapidly emerging as the epicentre of India’s data centre revolution, with a combination of strategic location advantages, robust infrastructure and surging demand from artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing driving unprecedented investment into the region. As India’s data centre industry gears up to cross 3 gigawatts (GW) of operational capacity by 2028, according to CBRE’s 2026 Asia Pacific Data Centre Trends & Outlook report, MMR is expected to remain at the heart of this growth story. The region already accounts for the largest share of India’s operational data centre capacity and continues to attract a substantial portion of upcoming investments. Mumbai currently hosts more than 800 MW of operational data centre capacity, making it the country’s undisputed leader in digital infrastructure. Equally significant is the future pipeline, with another 750 MW under construction or in committed stages. Industry experts believe this momentum could transform the region into one of Asia’s most important digital infrastructure hubs over the next decade. The broader national backdrop supports this optimism. India’s total data centre stock stood at nearly 1,700 MW at the end of 2025, with CBRE estimating that an additional 500 MW of fresh supply will be added in 2026 alone. Driven by hyperscalers, cloud providers, global capability centres (GCCs) and AI-focused enterprises, the country has now been elevated from the “High Growth” category to the “Leading Markets” group in CBRE’s Asia-Pacific data centre rankings. “The combination of a low-bottleneck development environment, a rapidly expanding digital economy and aggressive hyperscaler commitments positions India as one of the most compelling DC markets globally,” said Anshuman Magazine, Chairman & CEO – India, South-East Asia, Middle East & Africa, CBRE. “As AI workloads multiply and the demand base broadens beyond cloud to Neocloud, GCCs and enterprise users, we expect the country’s capacity trajectory to remain steep well beyond 2028,” he added. Unique Advantage Within India, however, MMR enjoys a unique competitive advantage. The region combines access to international submarine cable landing stations, extensive fibre connectivity, proximity to the country’s largest financial ecosystem and a deep enterprise customer base. These factors have made it the preferred destination for hyperscale operators seeking scalable, low-latency infrastructure. According to Kamlesh Thakur, President, NAREDCO Maharashtra, MMR possesses a rare combination of factors that continue to attract large-scale investments. “Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) possesses a unique combination of advantages that make it India's most preferred data centre destination. The region is home to the country's largest financial ecosystem, has access to international submarine cable landing stations, a strong fibre network, a large enterprise customer base and proximity to major cloud and digital service providers,” he said. Thakur added that proactive government policies, dedicated incentives, reliable power infrastructure and rising AI and cloud demand are further accelerating investments into the region. “MMR is increasingly emerging not just as India's financial capital but also as its digital infrastructure capital,” he noted. The growth is particularly concentrated along the Navi Mumbai–Thane corridor, which has evolved into the country's most active data centre cluster. Locations such as Navi Mumbai, Thane, Airoli, Ghansoli, Rabale, Mahape and Taloja are witnessing strong traction due to the availability of large land parcels, power infrastructure and high-capacity fibre networks.

Indian Shipbuilding A Must Win Marathon

Shipbuilding

With a coastline of 7500 KM, it is hard to imagine, that for the first 20 years (1947-1967) India had no ‘shipping ministry’. In 1967 a Shipping ministry “coupled” with ROAD transport was established. Since then, this ministry has been on a name changing ride, not once, not twice but six times. In 2009 the “ROAD Transport and Highways” was de-coupled and ‘Shipping’ ministry was formed. Turning point came in 2015 with a clear maritime vision for 2030 and 2047. Ministry was re-christened, aptly to Ministry of “Ports, Shipping and Waterways” in 2020.


Why is Shipbuilding important for a country?

a. A Shipyard becomes an opportunity hub and like a queen bee requires the support of an industrial colony to manufacture machinery and equipment.

b. National Shipyards support fleet renewal needs of the Navy.

c. Contributes to national GDP, increases inflow of FOREX.


Korea shipbuilding is 8% of GDP. Japan’s automobile industry is 2.9% of GDP. India’s shipbuilding a meagre 0.000578% of GDP. In context, India’s pharmaceutical industry, ranked third largest in the world is 1.72% of India’s GDP.


International Shipbuilding Market

The market is estimated to reach around USD 200 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 4.84%. While India is at bottom with 0.07% of world share, behind Philippines 1.5% and Vietnam 1%, however on the positive side, India has done well in taking care of its defence needs, with 37 of 39 Naval ships being built in India yards. Rear Admiral S Shrikhande researching on maritime as a Fellow at Wollongong University, Australia, says “Shipbuilding in India needs both, serious incentivisation and dogged determination and not harping on being a big ship breaking country. That Garden Reach shipyard has a $54 million order for merchant ships from a German owner, is a good sign.”


Were Shipyards of 20th century in Flight mode?

Prominent shipyards in India were built in the colonial period. Mazagon Dock 1774, Garden reach 1884, Hindustan shipyard 1941 to cater to British navy and merchant fleet needs. Cochin shipyard 1972, Adani Katupalli 2013, Reliance Naval and Engineering, Rajula Gujarat 1997 and others have limited capacity, hence a lot more work to do. Capt. Subhangshu Dutt (Singapore) a mariner and now a shipowner, says “GOI should hold hands in any collaboration till the marriage with the foreign entity is reasonably stable. He also suggests that “new shipbuilding sites should be given to existing successful shipyards since they have decades of experience and talent. Consortium of 3 or more parties may also be good idea”.


Shipbuilding GOLD

As per SPLASH report the demand for LCO2 carriers could reach 2,500 ships by 2050. As per other estimates, 40% of global fleet of ships could have wind propulsion by 2050. A surge in such vessels is due to an unparallel waves of decarbonization in the shipping industry. Demand for ships with ‘carbon neutral’ badges, such as Dual fuel, Wind assisted, Nuclear fuel ships, Hydrogen powered ships, Liquified CO2 (LCO2) carrier, is outstripping supply. A must in the ‘bucket list’ of every Shipyard. Pinning down a standard ROI in shipbuilding is not easy, but experts suggest it could range from 4% to 15% for the high demand ‘carbon neutral’ ships. While an LNG new build vessel could cost US$ 250 million upwards.


International collaboration

On China’s shipbuilding success story, Manoj Pandalanghat (Singapore) a mariner and ship owner believes that “China has around 50 active Shipyards. Each have a few large dry docks. In each dock two or more large vessels are built simultaneously. Thus, a single yard is able to roll out 2/3 vessels/month, 36 vessels/year and 50 shipyards roll out 1800 vessels/year”.


China could be a jaldi-5, but India needs a sturdy Mount Fiji. Besides technology, Japanese bring the most important hand baggage of soft-skills and culture, essential for success from keel laying to delivery. Maruti’s is a standing example.


Food for thought for New Delhi

a. Expertise: Hire Naval Architects and shipbuilding experts with current international experience.

b. Government assistance: Land, Financial support, subsidies and timebound clearances.

c. Monitoring: PMO should monitor the first 5 to 10 years till Shipbuilding takes-off on this long-haul flight to destination 2047.


India’s Shipbuilding is expected to grow to $237 billion by year 2047. On a back of the envelope calculations this works out to about 4% of India’s 2047 projected GDP of $ 5 trillion. While cars are driven on roads, however the Ministry of roads and transport has little to do with “Automobile manufacturing”. On a similar note, ‘Shipbuilding’ as an industry has little to do with Ports, Shipping and Waterways, thus it may be worthwhile to consider a separate ‘Ship-building’ wing in the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways headed by a dynamic cabinet rank minister. Since 2047 targets are stiff and an uphill task, so in all probabilities, the officials in Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways are likely to push beneath the carpet, delays and failures of Shipbuilding with sweet success stories of “Ports, Shipping and Waterways” and if this does happen then India will not only miss the Shipbuilding bus of 21st century but a lot more from a national security and strategic perspective.


(The author is a Shipping and Marine consultant. Member Singapore Shipping Association and empaneled with IMO as a specialist consultant. Views personal.)

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