4 days ago

India’s data centre footprint to hit 101 million sq ft by 2030

India’s data centre (DC) footprint is projected to touch over 101 million square feet by 2030 as the sector scales up to meet the country’s accelerating digital requirements.

The footprint has grown from a modest 0.6 million sq ft in 2007 to nearly 27 million sq ft across 164 DCs by the first half (H1) of 2026, Anarock Capital said in a report, adding the sector is scaling up to meet the country’s accelerating digital requirements.

“The projected 101 million sq ft data centre footprint highlights the sheer physical scale of the real estate opportunity. Unlike conventional office or industrial developments, data centres are highly infrastructure-intensive assets, requiring large land parcels, substantial power capacity, advanced cooling systems, robust connectivity, and high levels of operational resilience,” said Shobhit Agarwal, chief executive officer at Anarock Capital.

“This projected footprint doesn’t represent just additional built-up space requirements – this is a specialised asset class at the intersection of real estate, technology and infrastructure. As operators expand their portfolios, demand for strategically located land, power infrastructure, renewable energy, engineering and construction services, fibre connectivity and specialised cooling solutions will rise in tandem,” he said.

DC capacity has crossed 1.8 gigawatts (GW) as of H1 2026, from less than 1 GW only a few years ago. The development pipeline is expected to boost capacity to over 6.7 GW by the end of the decade, a more than threefold increase in the next four years.

Further, the world’s largest technology companies and Indian conglomerates have collectively committed over $300 billion in India, a concentration of capital unmatched by any other emerging market in the DC sector, it added.

The investment commitments position India among the fastest-growing data centre markets globally, with growth estimated at 2-3 times the global average. Global DC capacity crossed 92 GW in H1 2026 and is projected to touch 210 GW by the end of 2030, with overall investment commitments of $3,000 billion by the first half of that year.

MMR leads

Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) remains India’s dominant data centre hub, with 54 operational data centres and an IT capacity of 812 MW. Chennai follows with 25 DCs of 298 MW capacity. Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru have 18 centres each, with IT capacities of 179 MW and 137 MW respectively, while Hyderabad has 12 DCs with 178 MW of IT capacity.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to drive 70 per cent of data centre demand by 2030, the report said.

“AI’s explosive growth adds another powerful dimension to this opportunity,” Agarwal said. “AI models require far more computing power, storage capacity and energy than conventional digital applications. As businesses, governments and consumers adopt AI at scale, data centres are evolving from digital activity support to critical infrastructure driving economic growth and technological competitiveness.”

The report cited the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 as underscoring the importance of secure domestic data infrastructure. It said infrastructure status accorded to data centres has helped improve access to long-tenure financing at interest rates of around 9.5-10.5 per cent, for tenures extending up to 12 years, while a proposed tax holiday through 2047 for eligible global cloud service providers would further enhance India’s competitiveness.

The next phase of growth will be defined by power, land and connectivity, and that reliable power, suitable land, high-speed connectivity and access to renewable energy will determine where the next generation of data centre capacity can be developed.

India has over 950 million internet users as of H1 2026, according to the report.