India Data Centre Capacity Expands to 1500 MW
The government has taken account of the infrastructure needs of the sector, including electricity and water supply. Expected electricity demand from growth in artificial intelligence and other large scale data centres has been factored into planning, with demand estimated to reach 13.56 gigawatt (GW) by 2031–32. National transmission infrastructure is being expanded to meet growing electricity needs and is reported to be adequately prepared to ensure reliable power supply across regions.
The Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India Act, known as the SHANTI Act, has been passed to strengthen the nuclear energy ecosystem. The act is intended to support development of reliable power solutions for emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence and data centres by enabling future deployment of small modular and micro nuclear reactors. Planning for energy supply is therefore positioned to accommodate the anticipated rise in compute intensive facilities.
Water requirements vary according to the cooling technologies deployed, with regulation of groundwater extraction for industrial use governed by guidelines issued by the Ministry of Jal Shakti. To minimise water use, the industry is adopting advanced cooling approaches including direct to chip liquid cooling, adiabatic cooling and immersion cooling. Providers are also deploying high density racks to more efficiently support high performance computing and artificial intelligence workloads, reducing both power and water consumption. The information was submitted to the Rajya Sabha on 13 March 2026 by the Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology.