India’s data centre capacity to cross 4,500 MW by 2030 with $20-25 bn investments

Bengaluru:  India’s data centre (DC) market capacity across top seven cities is expected to cross 4,500 MW by 2030, attracting investments to the tune of $20-25 billion the next 5-6 years, a report showed on Wednesday.

This is likely to translate into real estate footprint of around 55 million square feet in the next 5-6 years, according to the report by Colliers.

DC capacity has grown over 4 times times in the last 6-7 years and stands at 1,263 MW (as of April). This growth is driven by the surge in demand for digital and cloud services, increasing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT), and higher internet penetration, supported by favourable government policies.

At the city level, Mumbai continued to account for majority of the DC capacity with 41 per cent share, followed by Chennai and Delhi-NCR at 23 per cent and 14 per cent, respectively.

This rapid expansion in capacity has resulted in over 3X times increase in real estate footprint over the last 6-7 years, across top seven DC markets of the country, taking it to 16 million square feet, the report mentioned.

“India is becoming a global DC hotspot, fuelled by rapid digitalisation, data localisation norms and strong government support,” said Jatin Shah, Chief Operating Officer, Colliers India.

Undoubtedly, India’s strategic advantages such as availability of land parcels, power supply for usage and availability of skilled talent, reinforces its position as one of the preferred destination for data centres in the APAC region.

“Interestingly, the market is expanding beyond large-scale colocation facilities and hyperscalers to edge data centres driven by increasing need for lower latency, real-time analysis, enhanced app performance, and business agility,” said Shah.

In terms of geographical spread, 44 per cent of the new supply since 2020 was concentrated in Mumbai. This was followed by Chennai and Delhi-NCR which together accounted for 42 per cent of the capacity addition since 2020. In the next 5-6 years too, majority of the primary DC markets are set to witness significant influx of new supply.

Hyderabad, specifically, is likely to see significant traction and emerge as a major hub, in addition to cities such as Mumbai, Chennai and Delhi-NCR.

—IANS