Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Shri Piyush Goyal chaired a CEO Roundtable on Ease of Doing Business for Scaling India's Data Centre Ecosystem at Vanijya Bhawan, New Delhi. The roundtable served as a follow-up to previous discussions and focused on enhancing the enabling ecosystem for rapid and sustainable expansion of India's data centre sector, with particular emphasis on power infrastructure, land availability, and regulatory streamlining.
Minister Goyal expressed confidence in India's growth prospects, highlighting the country's 7.8% growth in Q1 2026 amid global uncertainty. He emphasized the potential of data centre and semiconductor industries, India's growing presence in AI, and expanding manufacturing base for global quality products, noting these sectors would power India's growth toward achieving a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047. The government expects investments in the data centre sector to reach approximately USD 200 billion, reflecting the scale of opportunity created by India's rapidly growing digital economy and AI ecosystem.
Discussions revealed that hyperscalers accounted for more than 80% of data centre absorption in the first half of 2026, underscoring India's emergence as an AI infrastructure destination. Stakeholders addressed critical infrastructure requirements including cluster-based transmission and substation planning, Day-1 sanctioned load, dual power feeders, and facilitation of renewable energy procurement across State boundaries. The need for DC-ready land banks and pre-identified power-ready parcels was also highlighted.
Regulatory measures aimed at reducing project timelines and improving investment certainty were reviewed, including streamlined single-window approvals and appropriate building regulations for data centres. Significant progress was noted since the previous roundtable, with the National Building Code 2026 now specifically recognizing data centres under Group E, featuring a dedicated Annex on requirements for data centres including fire-risk assessment and data-centre-specific performance indicators.
The roundtable included participation from senior representatives from the Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh, along with representatives from approximately 46 data centre companies, including global hyperscalers, data centre developers and operators, investors, and infrastructure providers. The dialogue will serve as a foundation for actionable, time-bound, and high-impact reforms aimed at accelerating investment and innovation, strengthening India's digital infrastructure and positioning the country as a trusted global data centre hub.