New Delhi: Over the next two years, India hopes to attract investments worth over $200 billion in data centres, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw said during a press briefing on 17 February at the India AI Impact Summit.
“We are aiming to make India the data hub of the world, and we are hoping that in the next two years, we will be able to attract investments that would span all five layers of the AI stack,” Vaishnaw said.
The announcement comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 15 February pitched the country as a global digital infrastructure and AI hub, calling investors, companies and governments across the world to invest in India’s data centres.
“We invite the whole world’s data to reside in India,” Modi had said to news agency PTI.
India’s ambitions to be known as a prominent international data partner also became clear after the recent Union Budget, which introduced tax incentives and relaxations for activities related to data centre development across the country. This included providing data-centre services covered under the Safe Harbour Rules, with a 15 per cent margin.
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Future of data centre leadership
On Tuesday, experts across sessions at the summit also discussed the challenges of developing a robust data-centre infrastructure in India, with international speakers sharing their experiences in the field.
Daniel Oates, the acting deputy director of the Emerging and Critical Technology Policy for the US Department of State, said Tuesday morning in a session that the future of data centre leadership will depend not just on developing the infrastructure but also on integrating it with other aspects of developing an economy, including energy and innovation.
“The US wants to partner with the world to build long-term capabilities to contribute to this vibrant ecosystem,” Oates said.
A December 2025 report by professional services agency KPMG projected that the total installed power of India’s data centres is likely to reach over 2GW by 2026 from a current level of over 1GW.
“This was a very significant build-out, and industry analysts believe that India’s data centre capacity will grow fivefold by 2030 to over 8GW,” the report read.
The report stated that the growth should generate over $30 billion in capital expenditures for India.
“India is building data centre facilities, which will create the infrastructure that will support India’s trillion-dollar digital economy. For decades, the development of data centre space has been limited to small, enterprise-owned server rooms and has now become a top-level strategic priority for the country,” it added.
(Edited by Insha Jalil Waziri)