India’s Data Centre Boom: A Rising Star in the Global Tech Landscape
Telecom Giant Airtel Eyes Expansion in Data Centre Sector
Indian telecom giant Airtel is set to double the capacity of its data centre business within three years, driven by rising domestic internet consumption and the growing adoption of artificial intelligence. The company’s subsidiary, Nxtra, which leads the domestic data centre market, has announced a $600 million investment to achieve nearly 400 megawatts of capacity by 2027.
Ashish Arora, CEO of Nxtra, told the Financial Times that the company is also planning for further growth over the next five to seven years, aiming to become one of the top two players in the industry.
India’s Data Centre Sector Grows Rapidly
Data centre operators measure capacity in megawatts, indicating the power a facility can draw from the grid and how they charge companies based on server usage. India’s data centre industry recorded $1.2 billion in revenues in 2024, growing at over 20% annually. This growth is fueled by increasing demand and the expansion of international cloud providers such as Amazon’s AWS, Microsoft’s Azure, and Google Cloud.
Analysts predict that India could become a regional data centre hub, with competitive pricing and the government’s push for local data storage. India’s 375,000 tech workers proficient in AI are second only to the US, according to CBRE figures.
Challenges Ahead: Power Grid Strain
However, the rapid growth of this power-hungry sector could strain already struggling state-owned power grids. In 2022, the Indian government projected a 6.4% annual growth in energy consumption until 2030. However, the Council on Energy, Environment and Water reports that usage is growing at 9% annually. Even if India meets its goal of creating 500 gigawatts of clean energy, existing planned capacities may not be sufficient.
A November report by Nomura suggests that data centres’ share of domestic electricity consumption could reach over 3% by the end of the decade, up from 0.5% today. Labanya Jena, a consultant with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, said this figure could be an underestimate given the rising data consumption by people.
India’s Data Consumption on the Rise
As consumers spend more time on streaming apps, online ordering, and digital transactions, domestic data consumption is growing. Anarock’s Devi Shankar noted that India’s average monthly data consumption per user had nearly doubled to 21.1 gigabytes in the five years to 2024. During the same period, India’s data centre capacity jumped to 1.4GW from 590MW and is expected to pass 9GW by 2030.
India’s average monthly data consumption per user had nearly doubled to 21.1 gigabytes in the five years to 2024. During the same period, India’s data centre capacity jumped to 1.4GW from 590MW and is expected to pass 9GW by 2030.
Leading Companies Invest in Data Centre Infrastructure
Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man, announced plans to build