A report released on Thursday indicates that burgeoning digital adoption and steep data usage are driving a dramatic surge in data centre capacity expansion in India.
The study, conducted by Cushman and Wakefield, projects a fivefold increase in data centre capacity expansion in the coming years.
The report highlights that India will need an additional 1.7-3.6 GW (gigawatt) of data centre capacity, in addition to the planned 2.32 GW of colocation capacity development.
It forecasts an annual addition of 464 MW of new colocation data centre capacity until 2028.
As of the second half of 2023, India’s colocation data centre capacity across its top seven cities reached 977 MW.
In 2023 alone, the addition of 258 MW of colocation capacity marked a substantial increase from the 126 MW added in 2022, reflecting a remarkable 105 per cent year-on-year growth.
Widespread digital adoption and increased use of data-intensive technologies are driving the exponential growth in data centre demand.
Meanwhile, India currently leads globally in average monthly data consumption per cell phone user, averaging over 19 GB.
The country is experiencing significant uptakes in internet services, smartphone usage, social media engagement, and OTT (over-the-top) channel subscriptions, fueling the demand for robust data centre infrastructure.
Both colocation data centres and those owned by cloud firms are being constructed at accelerated rates to meet this burgeoning demand.
“While the annual addition of 464 MW of colocation capacity until 2028 signifies rapid expansion, India will continue to build more data centres to leverage its digital transformation,” the report emphasized.
Over the next five years, India is to witness the fastest growth globally in smartphone penetration, internet connectivity, OTT subscriptions, and social media usage, further driving the need for advanced data infrastructure.
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