Scaling Capacity: Given that India's data centre demand is projected to reach 17 GW by 2031-32, what are the primary infrastructure bottlenecks—beyond power and land—that domestic providers face in scaling operations?
The forecasted demand of 17 GW of electricity in data centres by 2031-32 indicates the magnitude of infrastructure India has to develop. This is where land and power are not enough; high-speed fibre connectivity, high-capacity equipment, cooling innovations, skilled workforce and a synchronised contribution of power utilities, government and developers are essential for infrastructure and power capacities to match the new data centre builds.
AI workloads are also increasing rack densities and thus prolonging the requirement for cooling and equipment. India should look at the whole stack of supporting infrastructure rather than seeing the data centre expansion as a separate real estate or power project.
Policy & Incentives: With the government preparing a national data center policy, what specific measures or incentives would best support India-based cloud providers in competing with global hyperscalers?
A national data centre policy should provide a predictable framework for investment and operations across states. Infrastructure status has already improved access to financing, but India-based cloud providers need further support to compete with global hyperscalers. Some measures that would help include:
Faster approvals: A timeline-based single-window clearance system for land, power, connectivity and other approvals.
Financial incentives: Capital subsidies, interest subsidies and tax benefits for domestic cloud players investing in AI-ready infrastructure.
Cheap power: Long-term certainty on tariffs for electricity with incentives for buying renewable energy and using energy-efficient cooling.
Local tech: incentives for adopting domestically manufactured servers, storage and networking equipment.
The recent tax incentives for eligible foreign cloud providers can attract investment into India. However, similar policy attention should be given to strengthening domestic cloud capabilities. The objective should be to build a strong local ecosystem, not just attract infrastructure investment.
Sovereign Cloud: Why is it critical for Indian businesses and the broader economy that data remain within sovereign, AI-ready cloud centers rather than relying solely on foreign infrastructure?
Data is also a matter of security, regulation and economic sovereignty: specific industries such as banking, health, and government services need to know precisely where their data is stored, who has access and under what jurisdiction.
Organisations that depend entirely on foreign infrastructure create dependencies in areas critical to national strategic interests and to their own business continuity. This does not mean every data set has to be hosted in India, but enterprises should be able to choose secure local infrastructure when it makes sense for them. India also needs AI-ready cloud infrastructure hosted securely within the country.
Operational Challenges: As the CEO of Bharath Cloud, how do you navigate the dual challenge of balancing operational costs while keeping power consumption efficient in a resource-constrained market?
Cost and energy efficiency start with how well a cloud provider uses its own infrastructure. Capacity planning should reflect actual demand, not idle server space or artificially inflated load. Efficient cooling, workload planning, high server utilisation and constant monitoring all bring operating costs down. Pricing should also be predictable for customers.
At BharathCloud, we introduced fixed pricing with no data-egress or API-call charges, so companies can predict and plan their cloud costs. As AI workloads grow, efficiency has to matter as much as adding more compute.
Future Outlook: What should the government prioritize to ensure that India’s data center growth is both sustainable and beneficial to domestic technology providers?
A long-term data centre strategy is needed from the government that combines power, connectivity, access to water, sustainability and support for domestic technology development. Growth should not be judged simply by the number of sites or investments attracted but by how they operate and the value they bring to Indian businesses.
In the CEEW's 2026 study into India's data centre ecosystem, we identify the importance of balancing the impact of energy, water and climate resilience while adding capacity. Alongside this, policy should support local cloud providers, encourage domestic skills and create opportunities for Indian companies to develop their own capabilities. Currently, India has an opportunity to develop data centres for both the world and its own digital economy.