India's Data Centre Capacity to Hit 12 GW by 2030 Amid AI Surge
Driven by a 40% compound annual growth rate, India's digital infrastructure is scaling rapidly to meet the demands of AI and a trillion-rupee digital economy.
India is poised for a massive expansion of its digital infrastructure, with operational data centre capacity projected to surge from 2.2 GW in 2025 to 12 GW by 2030. This growth reflects a compound annual growth rate of approximately 40%, signaling a fundamental shift in the region's computing power.
The expansion is being propelled by enterprise digitalisation, the arrival of hyperscale cloud providers, and a dramatic spike in artificial intelligence workloads. AI-dedicated capacity is expected to expand nearly 24-fold, climbing from 275 MW to 6,546 MW by 2030. This industrial scale-up is already manifesting in corporate pipelines, with AdaniConnex announcing a development pipeline of 2.6 GW.
The Digital Foundation
This infrastructure boom is underpinned by one of the world's largest digital populations, featuring over 1.03 billion active internet users and roughly 22 billion monthly UPI transactions. The scale of the opportunity is reflected in the broader economy; India's digital economy is valued at INR 32 trillion in 2025, contributing approximately 12% of the national GDP. While Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have historically served as primary hubs for these facilities, investment is now diversifying into Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka, supported by commitments from global giants including Google and AWS.
The Power Constraint
As the sector scales, the primary bottleneck is shifting from land and capital availability to the procurement of reliable, cost-competitive power and water. The energy implications are stark: data centre electricity demand is forecast to grow 20-fold by 2040. Starting from 10 TWh in 2025, the sector is expected to eventually account for 7% of India's total electricity demand.
This energy trajectory creates a critical turning point for the industry. Because AI workloads significantly increase rack densities and cooling requirements, operators are being forced to move away from traditional methods. To sustain this growth and meet decarbonisation targets, the industry must now pivot toward closed-loop cooling systems and renewable energy power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Future Outlook
Industry observers are now watching how quickly the grid can adapt to these concentrated loads. While the capacity projections for 2030 are clear, the long-term viability of the sector depends on the integration of sustainable energy sources. The transition toward a 12 GW ecosystem will likely be defined by which providers can secure the most stable green energy pipelines while managing the intense thermal demands of next-generation AI hardware.