India’s installed data centre capacity is projected to increase from 1.5 GW in 2025 to 6.5 GW by 2030, driven by rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI), hyperscale cloud services and digital infrastructure, according to a report by Rubix Data Sciences.
The report, Rubix Industry Insights: India’s Data Centre Sector, estimates that the country’s installed capacity has nearly quadrupled since 2020 and is entering its fastest phase of expansion. India added 387 MW of IT capacity in 2025, more than double the 191 MW added in 2024.
As of January 2026, India had 271 data centres, with Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru and Chennai accounting for nearly 65% of the country’s facilities. The report attributes the sector’s growth to increasing cloud adoption, AI deployment, 5G, digital payments, e-commerce and over-the-top (OTT) services, along with relatively lower construction costs compared with markets such as the US and China.
According to Rubix, the sector’s investment pipeline—including announced and under-development projects—is estimated at around US$90 billion, compared with US$13-15 billion invested between 2020 and 2024. Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google together account for approximately US$67.5 billion of planned investments in India’s cloud infrastructure.
The report also highlights the infrastructure challenges accompanying this expansion. Data centres are estimated to consume around 150 billion litres of water annually, with consumption projected to increase to nearly 359 billion litres by 2030. More than half of India’s facilities are located in water-stressed regions.
Power demand is also expected to increase significantly. Citing Ministry of Power estimates, the report projects electricity demand from data centres to rise from around 1 GW currently to 13.56 GW by 2031-32, as operators work to balance growing compute requirements with sustainability and decarbonisation goals.
Commenting on the findings, Tushar Bhaskar, President of Rubix Data Sciences, said the sector has entered an AI-driven investment cycle, adding that long-term growth will depend on addressing challenges related to power availability, water usage and sustainable infrastructure development.
Despite generating nearly 20% of the world’s data, India currently accounts for only 3-4% of global data centre capacity, indicating significant room for further expansion, the report noted.