AWS Thane data center, Maharashtra, India

Amazon Web Services plans a large data center on a 53-acre plot at Balkum, in the Majiwada area of Thane, Maharashtra, close to the Balkum, Kolshet and Dhokali housing societies. Amazon Data Services India bought the land from Ananta Landmarks, a Kalpataru Group company, in October 2022 for more than 1,800 crore rupees, with the finished campus estimated to cost about 47,000 crore rupees. The Thane Municipal Corporation granted permits for the site, its roads and its entrance in 2024, and tree clearing and site work are already under way.

In July 2026 the Marathi daily Saamana counted 112 trees cut on the site, including 39 mango trees, eight tamarinds and a banyan, more than the 239 trees Amazon says its permit allowed it to fell. Thane's member of parliament, Naresh Mhaske, asked for construction to stop pending an independent review and accused the company of cutting more trees than permitted. Amazon rejected the allegations and said it holds valid permits and clearances.

Amazon says the campus will use only 125 kiloliters of water a day, split between drinking water and treated sewage water for landscaping, and will not draw on the community's drinking supply. Residents point instead to the Thane Municipal Corporation's agreement to supply the site with 12 million liters a day of recycled sewage water, in a city that already runs about 30 million liters a day short, with many housing societies relying on tanker trucks.

Dayanand Nene of the Satark Nagrik Foundation has asked the Maharashtra state cabinet to review and cancel the site's layout permissions. On September 9 Aaditya Thackeray said the campus would use far more water than Amazon claims for only about 75 jobs across two shifts. The permissions still stand, and the decisions residents are pressing for rest with the Thane Municipal Corporation and the state government.