India Pitches $200 Billion Data Centre Opportunity at CEO Roundtable
India targets $200 billion in data centre investments, focusing on ease of doing business, power, land, and regulatory reforms.
Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal chaired a CEO roundtable in New Delhi focused on scaling India's data centre ecosystem through improved ease of doing business. The minister described India as the world's best location for setting up data centres and highlighted the sector's potential to attract investments of around USD 200 billion.
Goyal pointed to India's 7.8% growth in the first quarter and its expanding presence in AI and manufacturing as key drivers. He expressed confidence that these sectors would contribute to the vision of a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047.
The roundtable, a follow-up to an earlier meeting, brought together representatives from eight state governments and around 46 data centre companies. Discussions centred on ensuring reliable power availability, including cluster-based transmission planning, dual power feeders, and cross-state renewable energy procurement.
Stakeholders also emphasised the need for ready-to-use land banks and streamlined single-window approvals to reduce project timelines. The meeting noted progress since the last roundtable, including the National Building Code 2026 now recognising data centres under Group E with dedicated fire-risk and performance requirements.
Officials noted that hyperscalers accounted for over 80% of data centre absorption in the first half of 2026, underscoring rising demand from cloud and AI workloads. The dialogue is expected to form the basis for time-bound reforms to position India as a trusted global data centre hub.