India's data center capacity will expand to 17 GW by 2030, with $27 billion invested in the last three years

16 Jul 2024

India's data center sector is set for a significant leap, Jefferies said in a report, estimating a twelve-fold increase in capacity from 1-1.5 GW to 17 GW by FY30. This jump is estimated to account for 6 percent of the country's total power demand by 2030, compared to less than 1 percent today, implying a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of over 50 percent.

The surge in data center activities began following directives by the Reserve Bank of India to localize payment-related data, which catalyzed the rapid expansion of the sector from 2021. Growth gained further momentum after HDFC and Mastercard faced temporary restrictions on incremental card issuance due to data center outages.

According to the report, the exponential growth of the data center industry will drive substantial investments in power generation, transmission and distribution (T&D). "Investments in power generation and T&D are expected to grow 2.2 times to USD 280 billion from FY24 to FY30 compared to the previous period of FY17–23," said Lavina Quadros, equity analyst at Jefferies.