MUMBAI, Oct. 11 -- In a major policy push for India's booming digital infrastructure, the Maharashtra government has cleared the way for data centres coming up in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Thane and surrounding areas to generate and distribute their own green energy. The state energy department has issued an order allowing data centre parks and individual units - notified by the industries department - to set up captive power generation and distribution facilities. The clearance is limited to renewable energy sources such as solar, hydro, or wind. The move, industry experts say, could be a game changer for the data centre ecosystem, which demands uninterrupted 24x7 power and consumes enormous amounts of electricity. Data centres are often described as "power guzzlers" due to the continuous energy required to run and cool thousands of servers hosting critical digital, cloud and AI operations. "It has become necessary to facilitate data centre park developers and their associates to develop and maintain power distribution infrastructure and procure power, which is a specialised activity for the entire data centre park," the state energy department said in its notification dated October 6. Maharashtra is not a power-surplus state, but it hosts nearly 60% of India's data centres, concentrated largely in Navi Mumbai. The state has already classified data centres as an "essential service" due to their need for uninterrupted operations. On May 13, the industries department notified 25 areas situated in Kurla, Chandivali, Marol, Thane, Navi Mumbai and Panvel as designated data centre parks and units. It also approved granting deemed distribution licences to data centres for the use of renewable power within these zones, paving the way for the energy department's latest decision. A senior energy department official said, "Any interruption in power can cause massive losses for data centres. With the exponential rise of cloud computing, streaming, fintech, and artificial intelligence, their power demand is growing rapidly. The government therefore decided to permit captive green energy generation for their operations." The government order also allows data centre operators to distribute electricity within the notified areas. "If they generate surplus power, they can sell it to other customers within the same zone but not beyond it," another official clarified. Operators will be able to seek parallel distribution licences from the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC) after following due procedures. However, all such energy must be from renewable sources. Under the state's Information Technology and IT-enabled Services (ITES) Policy, Maharashtra aims to position Mumbai and Navi Mumbai as the region's new data centre hubs. With a reliable power grid, multiple undersea cable landing points, and skilled technical manpower, the state hopes to make Zone I cities a major Asia-Pacific digital hub. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had earlier said Maharashtra accounts for nearly 60% of India's total data centre capacity - much of it concentrated in Navi Mumbai. Major players developing facilities in the notified zones include Amazon Data Services India, NTT Global Data Centers, CtrlS, Equinix India, Nxtra Data, Sify Infinit Spaces, and Princeton Digital Group, among others. According to a June report by property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, Mumbai now ranks sixth among 97 global cities in terms of under-construction data centre capacity, overtaking established markets like London and Dublin. Mumbai accounts for 42% of India's total under-construction capacity, cementing its position as a major regional hub. The report also ranks Mumbai as the seventh most established data centre market in the Asia-Pacific region....