Data centre boom: India’s capacity to hit 8GW by 2030; $30 billion investment seen driving AI, cloud growth

India’s data centre industry is on track for a major expansion, with total capacity projected to jump five times to 8GW by 2030, according to a sectoral report by Jefferies. The growth is expected to be driven by the surge in data consumption, rapid cloud adoption, regulatory data localisation rules, and the increasing use of artificial intelligence (AI) applications.As per the report, the expansion will call for an estimated investment of around $30 billion and could boost data centre leasing revenues fivefold to reach $8 billion by the end of the decade.India’s colocation data centre capacity — where businesses lease space and infrastructure from operators — has already seen a fivefold rise to 1.7GW. According to the news agency ANI, the sector is operating at nearly full capacity, with occupancy levels averaging 97 per cent, highlighting robust demand.The report added that Mumbai and Chennai together host about 70 per cent of the total installed capacity, with Mumbai alone contributing roughly half, owing to its proximity to undersea cable landing stations and its strong presence of banking and financial service clients.By 2030, Bharti Airtel, Reliance, and Adani Enterprises (via AdaniConneX) are projected to account for 35–40 per cent of India’s data centre capacity.

AdaniConneX and Reliance are expected to lead nearly one-third of the planned capacity additions, while the top five players currently dominate 90 per cent of the market, led by NTT GDC with about a 20 per cent share.The report further noted that AI adoption will intensify demand since AI servers consume five to six times more power and require advanced liquid cooling systems compared to traditional data centres. Regulatory developments like the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, and RBI’s data localisation guidelines are also pushing enterprises to store and process data within India.According to Jefferies, the anticipated $30 billion capital expenditure will generate opportunities across sectors — including $10 billion in electrical and power systems, $7 billion in racks and fit-outs, $6 billion in real estate, $4 billion in cooling systems, and $1 billion in network infrastructure.