Letter from India:
Tushar Bhaskar, President, Rubix Data Sciences Private Limited writes:
“India’s Data Centre Industry is moving past its early growth phase and into a period defined by scale, speed, and the infrastructure needed to sustain both.”
We felt this shift was significant enough to merit a closer look and wanted to share our findings with you in our latest Rubix Industry Insights: Data Centres (July 2026). The report tracks how capacity additions, investment commitments, regional expansion, and sustainability pressures are reshaping the industry.
The scale of expansion is significant. India’s installed data centre capacity has grown from 375 MW in 2020 to 1.5 GW in 2025, and is projected to reach 6.5 GW by 2030, more than four times current levels. Capacity additions have accelerated sharply too, with 387 MW added in 2025 alone, more than double the 191 MW added in 2024, a 103% year-on-year increase.
Investment is following the same trajectory. The sector’s current pipeline stands at around USD 90 billion, roughly six times the USD 13–15 billion invested between 2020 and 2024. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google have together committed approximately USD 67.5 billion to India, and the Government has projected that AI-driven digital infrastructure could catalyse up to USD 200 billion in investment ahead.
The ecosystem is also evolving in parallel:
- India ranks seventh globally by number of data centres, with Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Chennai accounting for 65% of the country’s 271 facilities.
- India hosts 2,117 active Global Capability Centres, with over 49% of newly established GCCs now AI-first from inception.
- Construction costs in India are estimated at 30%–40% lower than in China and the US, reinforcing its position as a preferred hyperscale destination.
- States including Gujarat and Maharashtra have introduced dedicated policies to attract data centre investment beyond the traditional metro hubs.
Some of the key forces shaping this trajectory are:
- Hyperscale cloud and AI adoption driving the demand for high-density, GPU-intensive infrastructure
- A partnership model, where hyperscalers fund capacity while specialist colocation operators build and manage it
- Government policy and renewable energy expansion strengthening India’s cost and sustainability position
However, structural challenges remain. Data centres’ water consumption is projected to rise from 150 billion litres annually to nearly 359 billion litres by 2030, with more than half of facilities already located in water-stressed regions. Electricity demand from the sector is expected to climb from around 1 GW today to 13.56 GW by 2031–32, placing sustained pressure on India’s power grid and decarbonisation targets.
These developments carry clear implications for credit decisions, supply chain strategies, and counterparty risk assessment.
The report, Rubix Industry Insights: Data Centres (July 2026), is a part of the broader Rubix Industry Insights series (https://rubixds.com/insights/ ), which covers a range of sectors including Iron and Steel, Defence, Hospitality, Healthcare, Retail, Medical Devices, Solar Energy, Agrochemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Textiles, Logistics, Renewable Energy, FMCG, Automotive Components, and more.
If you would like to understand how sectoral developments may impact your counterparties or supply chains, we would be happy to connect.
Sincerely,
Tushar Bhaskar
President
Rubix Data Sciences Private Limited
D-424, Neelkanth Business Park,
Vidyavihar (West), Mumbai 400086, India
Email: info@rubixds.com
Phone: +912249744274