The Ministry of Electronics & IT announced the government's initiatives to promote sustainable growth of data centres through energy-efficient measures and clean energy adoption. India's data centre installed capacity has grown significantly from 375 MW in 2020 to approximately 1575 MW currently, with major concentrations in Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Delhi NCR, and Jamnagar. The industry is expanding to new investment destinations including Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal.
According to the Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power, the power demand of data centres is estimated to reach about 17 GW by 2031-32, though current data centre capacity represents less than 1% of India's installed power capacity. The rapid growth of AI and high-performance computing is driving increasing demand for data centre capacity in the country.
The government is promoting renewable energy through multiple measures including Green Energy Open Access Rules, Green Energy Corridor Scheme, Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM), National Green Hydrogen Mission, National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules, Offshore Wind VGF Scheme, and Solar Park Scheme. The SHANTI Act has been enacted to strengthen reliable clean power for emerging sectors including AI and data centres, with potential future deployment of Small Modular and Micro Nuclear Reactors.
Standardization efforts include Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) technical committee LITD 31 publishing Indian Standards on Power Usage Effectiveness, Carbon Usage Effectiveness (CUE), Cooling Efficiency Ratio (CER), and Water Usage Effectiveness (WUE) for data centres. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency has notified Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC 2017) and Energy Conservation & Sustainable Building Code (ECSBC 2024) prescribing energy efficiency and water conservation norms for buildings with data centre provisions.
Water requirements for data centres depend on cooling technologies deployed, with regulation governed by Ministry of Jal Shakti guidelines. The industry is adopting advanced cooling technologies including direct-to-chip liquid cooling, adiabatic cooling, immersion cooling, and closed-loop liquid cooling systems, along with high-density racks to support high-performance computing and AI workloads while reducing power and water consumption. These initiatives collectively provide a framework for electricity consumption, energy efficiency, renewable energy use, energy reuse, cooling efficiency, carbon emissions, and water usage.
The information was submitted by Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Shri Jitin Prasada in Rajya Sabha on August 7, 2026.