NEW DELHI - India's state-owned Bhabha Atomic Research Centre is developing what it claims to be the world's largest magnet, weighing 50,000 tons, local media reported Tuesday.

The magnet, slated to be several times bigger than the one at the Compact Muon Solenoid detector at CERN in Geneva will play a major role in the India-based Neutrino Observatory coming up 4,300 feet below a cave in a mountain in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, The Times of India newspaper said.

Head of the atomic research centre's nuclear physics division Vivek Datar said that in terms of sheer dimensions the magnet being designed at the Trombay centre will be the largest in the world.

"It will be iron-based, weighing 50,000 tons while the weight of the one at CERN ranges between 4,000 and 5,000 tons," he was quoted as saying.