The announcement, made on June 10, 2026, comes as global technology giants race to secure data centre capacity to power the enormous computational demands of AI training and inference. For Meta, the Jamnagar facility will serve as a critical hub for running its Llama AI models and delivering AI-powered services to its massive Indian user base — the largest for any Meta platform globally.

Inside the Partnership

Under the deal, Reliance will design, construct, and operate the data centre, which Meta will lease with the option to expand capacity in the future. The facility will be powered by a mix of renewable energy sources — including solar and wind — aligning with both companies’ sustainability commitments. Jamnagar, already home to Reliance’s massive oil refinery complex and growing digital infrastructure, was chosen for its land availability, power supply, and connectivity.

This partnership builds on the two companies’ deepening relationship. In August 2025, Meta and Reliance formed a joint venture with an initial investment of Rs 855 crore (approximately $100 million), with Reliance holding a 70% stake and Meta 30%. That venture focused on developing AI platforms and enterprise tools for Indian businesses using Meta’s open-source Llama models.

The data centre deal takes the collaboration to an entirely new level. “This is not just about infrastructure — it’s about building the AI backbone for India’s digital future,” said a senior Reliance executive who declined to be named. “The combination of Meta’s AI expertise and Reliance’s infrastructure and distribution capabilities creates a formidable partnership.”

Why India, Why Now

India has emerged as a priority market for global AI infrastructure investment for several reasons. The country has over 800 million internet users, a rapidly growing digital economy, and a government that is actively promoting AI adoption through initiatives like the Bharat Gen AI model and the IndiaAI Mission. The demand for AI compute in India is expected to grow 10x over the next five years, driven by enterprise adoption, government services, and consumer applications.

For Meta specifically, India is its single largest market by users. WhatsApp alone has over 500 million users in the country, and the integration of AI features — including Meta AI chatbot, business automation tools, and content recommendation systems — requires low-latency, locally hosted computing infrastructure. Running these models on Indian soil also helps with data localisation compliance and reduces dependency on overseas data centres.

The timing is also driven by global competition. Google, Amazon, and Microsoft have all announced or expanded data centre operations in India in 2025-26. Meta’s Jamnagar facility ensures it remains competitive in the race to dominate the Indian AI market.

The Jamnagar Advantage

Jamnagar, a city in Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, may seem like an unusual choice for a cutting-edge AI facility. But the location offers several strategic advantages. Reliance already has extensive land holdings and industrial infrastructure in the area, reducing setup time and costs. Gujarat’s proactive industrial policy and robust power grid — including growing renewable energy capacity — make it an attractive destination for energy-intensive data centre operations.

The 168 MW capacity of the facility is significant — for context, the average Indian data centre is 10-30 MW. This makes the Jamnagar facility one of the largest single-site data centres in India, comparable to hyperscale facilities operated by global cloud providers in Hyderabad and Mumbai. The scale reflects the enormous computational requirements of modern AI, where training a single large language model can consume megawatts of power for weeks.

Implications for India’s AI Ecosystem

The Meta-Reliance deal is expected to have ripple effects across India’s technology ecosystem. It will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs — from construction and operations to AI engineering and data management. It will also attract ancillary investments in networking, cooling systems, and renewable energy infrastructure.

For Indian startups and enterprises, the availability of local AI compute at scale could be transformative. Instead of relying on overseas cloud services with high latency and costs, businesses will have access to powerful AI infrastructure within the country. This could accelerate AI adoption across sectors from healthcare and agriculture to education and financial services.

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As India positions itself as a global AI powerhouse, partnerships like Meta-Reliance signal that the country is not just a consumer of AI technology but increasingly a hub for its creation and deployment. The Jamnagar data centre is a concrete step in that direction.

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In what is being described as India’s biggest-ever maritime drug seizure, security agencies on Tuesday intercepted a consignment of high-purity cocaine worth approximately Rs 1,150 crore off the coast of Mundra in Gujarat’s Kutch district. The operation, conducted jointly by the Indian Coast Guard, the Narcotics Control Bureau and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, resulted in the seizure of approximately 230 kilograms of cocaine from a fishing vessel that was being used to transport the contraband from international waters to the Indian mainland.

Six individuals were arrested in connection with the seizure, including two foreign nationals believed to be part of an international drug trafficking network with links to South American cocaine cartels. Authorities said the operation was the culmination of months of intelligence gathering and surveillance that involved coordination between Indian agencies and their counterparts in multiple countries.

How the Operation Unfolded

According to officials briefed on the operation, the intelligence trail began when the Narcotics Control Bureau intercepted communications suggesting that a large consignment of cocaine was being routed to India through a complex maritime network. The drugs were believed to have originated in South America and were transhipped through multiple waypoints in the Indian Ocean before being loaded onto a locally registered fishing vessel off the coast of Gujarat.

The Indian Coast Guard deployed its offshore patrol vessel and a Dornier maritime surveillance aircraft to track the suspect vessel as it approached Indian territorial waters. The interception took place approximately 40 nautical miles off the Mundra coast in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Coast Guard personnel boarded the vessel and discovered the cocaine concealed in specially constructed hidden compartments below the deck, packaged in waterproof bundles weighing approximately one kilogram each.

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, which had been coordinating the intelligence effort, said the cocaine was of exceptionally high purity, estimated at over 90 per cent, which significantly increases its street value. At current international prices and Indian market rates, the seized cocaine has an estimated value of approximately Rs 1,150 crore, making it the single largest cocaine seizure in Indian maritime history.

Mundra’s Emergence as a Drug Trafficking Hotspot

The seizure off Mundra is the latest in a series of major drug interceptions along Gujarat’s coast, raising serious concerns about the state’s emergence as a preferred entry point for international drug trafficking networks. Mundra port, India’s largest private port operated by the Adani Group, has been the site of several significant drug seizures in recent years, including a nearly 3,000-kilogram heroin consignment seized from cargo containers in 2021.

Security analysts say the geographic location of Gujarat’s coast, with its extensive and often poorly monitored coastline stretching over 1,600 kilometres, makes it vulnerable to maritime smuggling operations. The proximity to international shipping lanes and the relatively short distance from key transhipment points in the western Indian Ocean have made the region attractive to drug cartels seeking to penetrate the lucrative Indian market.

Authorities have responded by deploying additional Coast Guard assets along the Gujarat coast and establishing a dedicated joint task force for counter-narcotics maritime operations. The latest seizure is being cited as evidence that enhanced surveillance and inter-agency coordination are yielding results, though officials acknowledge that the scale of the trafficking networks means many consignments likely evade detection.

International Dimensions of the Smuggling Network

The investigation has revealed that the smuggling network operated across multiple continents, with the cocaine originating in Colombia before being transported through Brazil to West Africa and then across the Indian Ocean. The route mirrors patterns identified by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which has warned that Indian Ocean maritime routes are increasingly being exploited by South American cartels seeking to expand their market reach into South and Southeast Asia.

The two foreign nationals arrested in connection with the seizure are believed to be mid-level operatives in the network who were responsible for coordinating the final leg of the shipment from international waters to the Indian coast. Indian authorities have requested mutual legal assistance from several countries as part of the ongoing investigation, which aims to identify and dismantle the broader network behind the consignment.

The NCB has indicated that the investigation is still in its early stages and that further arrests are anticipated as the agency traces the financial flows associated with the smuggling operation. Officials said that the sophistication of the concealment techniques and the multi-country logistics involved suggest the involvement of a well-funded and professionally organised criminal enterprise.

Growing Cocaine Demand in India

The size of the Mundra seizure has also focused attention on the growing demand for cocaine in India’s urban centres. While heroin and cannabis have traditionally been the dominant illicit drugs in the Indian market, law enforcement data shows a sharp increase in cocaine seizures over the past five years, reflecting changing consumption patterns among affluent urban populations. The NCB’s annual report for 2025 noted a 340 per cent increase in cocaine seizures compared to 2020 levels.

Drug policy experts say the rising cocaine demand in India is driven by multiple factors, including increased connectivity with global markets, rising disposable incomes in urban areas, and the influence of social media and popular culture that has normalised recreational drug use among certain demographics. The challenge for enforcement agencies is that cocaine trafficking networks are typically more sophisticated and better funded than those dealing in traditional drugs, making detection and disruption significantly more difficult.

The Mundra seizure comes at a time when India is also grappling with broader societal trends that intersect with issues of law enforcement, governance, and public health. Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the agencies involved in the operation and reiterated the government’s zero-tolerance approach to drug trafficking, pledging additional resources for maritime counter-narcotics operations along India’s coastline.

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The post Cocaine Worth Rs 1,150 Crore Seized Off Gujarat’s Mundra Coast — India’s Biggest-Ever Maritime Drug Bust Nabs International Smuggling Ring appeared first on Daily Tips.