Maharashtra Aims to Become India's AI Capital with Ambitious Plans and Partnerships

Maharashtra On Track To Become India's AI Capital: CM Fadnavis

Fadnavis further said that the Maharashtra government has enlisted the help of OpenAI-backer Microsoft to train and upskill 10,000 women in AI Maharashtra aims to become the AI capital of India over the next four to five years as part of the nationwide effort to increase adoption of the fast-developing technology, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said. The Maharashtra government is working on a new AI policy as it wants to lead the ongoing AI revolution in the country, Fadnavis said at the Nascomm Technology and Leadership Forum on Monday (February 24). "We want to lead this AI revolution and the committee, a team of business leaders, is working around making a new AI policy. In the AI conference in France, our Prime Minister has actually charted our roadmap into AI. And he feels that India wants to lead in terms of AI," the CM said. This follows Maharashtra IT minister Ashish Shelar's comments that the state was planning to chalk out an independent AI policy soon. Fadnavis further said that the Maharashtra government has enlisted the help of OpenAI-backer Microsoft to train and upskill 10,000 women in AI. It is pertinent to note that Maharashtra currently accounts for 60% of India's data centre capacity. As part of its push to boost the AI computing infrastructure and meet the energy demand, Maharashtra plans to grow its power generation capacity to 75 Gigawatt by 2030 from 45 Gigawatt currently.

Maharashtra to emerge as first $1 trillion sub-national economy, AI Capital of India: CM Fadnavis

The state has earmarked a 300-acre land for developing the innovation city in New Mumbai, which will be "most futuristic global city," Fadnavis said in conversation with Fractal's cofounder and group CEO Srikanth Velamakanni at the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum on Monday.Maharashtra state is on path to emerge as the first sub-national $1 trillion economy over the next 4-5 years as well as the pioneer AI capital of India, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said. He said that the state has already crossed half-a-trillion-dollar economy mark and has formed an economic advisory council headed by N. Chandrasekaran, chairman Tata Sons, to create Maharashtra's roadmap to a trillion-dollar economy, enabled by technology. The state has earmarked a 300-acre land for developing the innovation city in New Mumbai, which will be "most futuristic global city," Fadnavis said in a conversation with Fractal's cofounder and group CEO Srikanth Velamakanni at the Nasscom Technology and Leadership Forum on Monday. "Now we have created a second roadmap with the NITI Aayog and our experts together have put in a paper where they feel that the MMR (Mumbai Metropolitan Region) itself can become a $1.5 trillion economy and I think that will change Maharashtra's economics and the country's economics." A NITI Aayog report in September 2024 revealed a blueprint for the development of MMR as a global economic hub, with its economy worth $300 billion (Rs 26 lakh crore) from the present level of $140 billion (Rs 12 lakh crore), and to $1.5 trillion by 2047. "At (the World Economic Forum) Davos, we got a huge response from the industry. In fact, there were six states at Davos. But Maharashtra actually attracted MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) worth $180 billion. And that is one of the record which any of the countries has created at Davos." He added that new Mumbai around the airport will be a technology hub and three times larger than Mumbai in size. "We want to lead this AI revolution and the committee, a team of business leaders, is working around making a new AI policy. In the AI conference in France, our Prime Minister has actually charted our roadmap into AI. And he feels that India wants to lead in terms of AI." He added that everyone needs to adopt AI the way we adopted smartphones and embarked on the journey of Digital India. Hence, for skilling, the government of Maharashtra is training 10,000 women in AI through partnership with Microsoft. Maharashtra also accounts for 60% of India's data centre capacity and to provide for the energy needs of AI workloads, the state is aiming to grow its power generation from 45 Gigawatt currently to 75 Gigawatt by 2030. Nearly 52% of this energy will come from non-conventional green sources, the Minister said. For global capability centres (GCCs), Maharashtra is developing five hubs in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Sambhaji Nagar and Nasik. In terms of fintech, Mumbai is the "undeclared capital of fintech", he said. "In the recent Startup India Report, around 20,000 startups are here. Around 35% of startups are in the space of fintech." Maharashtra is also gearing up to host the Mahakumbh 2027 at Nashik, which will be a "technology-enabled Kumbh," he said. He explained that the Prayagraj Mahakumbh was organised in a 15,000 hectares area, while Nashik only has 250 hectares of land earmarked for the event. "I would say that this will be technologically the most advanced Kumbh. So, the purity of the Kumbh and the sanctity of the Kumbh will not be touched. But, it will give an immersive experience to people who come to the Kumbh. From crowd management to administration will be technology enabled."