Development Watch – Week #4 Sept’26
Development News
Delhi leads India’s Electric Mobility Index 2025
As per the index released by NITI Aayog, Delhi improved its score from 77 to 84, followed by Maharashtra, which increased its score from 68 to 78 while maintaining second place. Karnataka emerged as the third-ranked top performer, moving up one position with a score of 73. Karnataka has overtaken Chandigarh, which slipped to fourth despite an increase in score from 65 to 71. Tamil Nadu, by contrast, slipped one place to sixth despite improving its score from 59 to 61, as fast-rising Goa moved ahead of it. The IEMI score was determined by analysing the performance of each state and UT across all indicators, alongside the weightage attributed to the indicators and overarching themes of the Index.
India is Asia’s 4th largest REIT market
India’s REIT market value grew significantly, surpassing Hong Kong for the first time. New listings and expanded portfolios substantially increased the total space available for investors. Office REIT occupancy remained high due to strong demand from multinational companies. The Chinese mainland also saw substantial growth through new product issuance and expanded asset classes. Both China and India are expected to remain key growth engines for the region’s REIT markets.
Modularization by L&T in 5 years
PC major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) sees the company cornering a 20% or upto $30 billion share of the $150 billion dollar modularization market in the next five years. Modularisation is a game changer in the delivery of large and complex energy projects. by shifting substantial construction, integration, testing and pre-commissioning activities from the project site to a controlled fabrication environment, it enables parallel execution, strengthens safety and quality oversight, improves predictability and reduces complexity at site. This will also allow L&T to tide over labour shortage of up to 60,000 labourers as of 2026. it has completed fabrication and delivery of 110 modules weighing approximately 64,000 metric tonnes,for Project CERES, Australia’s largest urea manufacturing plant with a capacity of 2.3 MTPA.
India to be 3rd largest Wind energy player
India will soon surpass Germany to become the world’s third-largest wind energy producer. The nation is projected to achieve 107 GW capacity by the year 2030. This energy transition involves building a complete industrial ecosystem and creating skilled jobs. India’s domestic turbine-making capacity has significantly grown to 24 GW annually. Wind equipment exports crossed Rs 12,000 crore in FY2025-26, showing strong growth.
Delhi to fund Rooftop panels for 2.25 Lakh homes
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta launched a dedicated portal under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, offering free rooftop solar panel installations of up to 3 kW for 2.25 lakh households. The Delhi government will bear the entire installation cost, with registrations and allotments following a first-come, first-served system. PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana is a flagship central government scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in February 2024. Its primary goal is to provide free electricity (up to 300 units per month) to 1 crore (10 million) households across India by promoting the installation of rooftop solar systems.
Rs. 3,000 Crore loans by Nabfid for Data Centres
Nabfid is sanctioning significant loans for India’s growing data center infrastructure needs. These facilities support the nation’s push for artificial intelligence and cloud computing capacity. The lender anticipates continued strong demand from hyperscalers and cloud service providers. Nabfid is the state-run infrastructure financier. It plans to raise approximately Rs 1 trillion until 2031 to fund these large projects. This financing aligns with India’s broader infrastructure investment in the digital economy. Global investors including EQT AB and Blackstone Inc. and companies such as Alphabet Inc. have announced large investments in India’s data centre and AI infrastructure, alongside domestic conglomerates including the Adani Group.
Local Feedback
LocalFeedback.org aims to track and document actionable parameters that help improve urban and rural infrastructure. The founder, Susmita, has juggled diverse roles in real estate, project budgeting, valuation and execution on construction sites. Having traveled to more than 20 countries, she has worked across 4 regions in India. Her areas of interest include sustainable buildings, electric mobility and urban development. She visited top-ranking cities on livability indices and has presented published papers at international conferences.