Digital surge ahead: India’s data centres to grow fivefold by 2030; says report | India Business News
According to a new Macquarie Equity Research report, India’s data centre capacity is poised for massive expansion, set to double by 2027 based on under-construction capacity and may grow fivefold by 2030 if pipeline capacity is fast-tracked.The report titled ‘Racks to Riches: India Data Centres’, estimates that currently India has 1.4 GW of operational data centre (DC) capacity, with another 1.4 GW under construction and a further 5 GW in the planning stage, reported news agency PTI.The surge, it stated, will be driven by data localisation laws, a supportive regulatory environment, government incentives, and rising cloud adoption across industries.Highlighting India’s “giga-scale digital dreams,” Macquarie noted that the country’s data centre capacity could ‘double by 2027 based on ongoing construction and increase five times by 2030 if the pipeline capacity is fast-tracked’Cumulative capital expenditure, excluding servers, is projected to range between $30 billion and $45 billion, based on costs of $4 million to $7 million per MW cited in various project estimates, the report said.In one of the biggest tech investments in India, Google earlier this month announced plans to invest $15 billion to build an AI infrastructure hub in Andhra Pradesh, in partnership with Adani Group. The project, located in Visakhapatnam, will include a gigawatt-scale data centre powered by clean energy and supported by a fibre-optic network and is expected to generate 5,000–6,000 direct jobs and a total of 20,000–30,000 employment opportunities in the region. The $15 billion investment will be spread over 2026–2030, reported PTI.Adani Group chairman and business tycoon Gautam Adani had earlier said that AdaniConneX will partner with Google and Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator, on the project.The $15 billion investment will be rolled out over a five-year period between 2026 and 2030.According to the Macquarie report, recent “gigawatt-scale” announcements include Google’s AI Vizag hub ($15 billion, partners AdaniConneX and Bharti Airtel) and TCS’s $6.5 billion investment. Earlier, Reliance Jio unveiled plans for a green AI data centre in Jamnagar, with Meta and Google as partners, while Amazon Web Services (AWS) committed $13 billion to expand its India cloud infrastructure by 2030, PTI reported.
