Brookfield Corporation signs $12 billion MoU to invest in Mumbai’s infrastructure development

Brookfield Corporation, a Toronto-based investment firm committed to investing in Mumbai’s infrastructure development at the World Economic Forum at Davos, according to a statement from MMRDA.

The commitment which is nearly ₹1.03 lakh crore will involve investments in Mumbai’s road, bridge metro, data centres, Global Capability Centres among others within a duration of around five to seven years. Brookfield’s investment is the highest among over 50 yet from this year’s WEF commitments for Maharashtra. This is followed by the BlackStone and Temasek, singing MoUs for $5 million each.

The investment includes funding the development of metro projects, roads, bridges, urban infrastructure, real estate, Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), Land Value Capture opportunities, and sustainable blue and green infrastructure. Further, MMRDA also stated that investments will be directed to KSC New Town, with 323.24 sq. km, Special Planning Areas (SPAs) in the north MMR which is about 1,006.76 sq. km. and southern MMR for about 673.33 sq. Km of land. The investments include residential and commercial real estate, Global Capability Centres (which are offshore offices of foreign offices that use local talent for global operations of companies), logistics and data centres.

“This initiative will support Maharashtra’s ambition to become a $1 trillion economy and contribute significantly to India’s goal of achieving a $5 trillion economy within the next 3–4 years. The MoU is projected to help achieve a $300 billion economy within MMR and create 3 million additional jobs by 2030” said MMRDA in its statement.

According to a report from Knight Frank property consultants, as of 2024, Mumbai continued to be the largest receiver of private equity investment in the real estate sector, which is about $2 billion, which was more than twice the size of Bangalore’s $833 million, the second largest investment.

While the investment is good news, the report also depicted a clear preference of foreign investors in ready assets compared with under-construction projects. More than 80% of private equity investments that came into real estate were on completed office spaces, the report found. In warehousing, properties almost all investments were in ready properties.

This is because ready assets provide immediate rental income. The potential investment by private equity firms in the Indian real estate market is also subject to “government spending, currency fluctuations, inflation, interest rates, and office supply in recent years” Knight Frank report found.