Attracting AI Data Centre Infrastructure Investment in India
May 2025
As global Artificial Intelligence (AI) growth and domestic ambitions converge, India stands at a critical inflection point. Worldwide, AI adoption continues to surge. India, too, is riding this digital wave. Poised to become one of the fastest-growing leaders in AI, India’s AI market is expected to reach US$20–22 billion by 2027, posting a CAGR of 30 percent.
However, despite hosting nearly 20 percent of the world’s data, India has just 3 percent of the global data centre capacity. The gap between India’s AI aspirations and compute infrastructure presents a strategic opportunity and a national imperative to build AI data centres at scale. Given the rising demand, India must boost its AI-ready infrastructure.
India’s AI future is bright. Today’s investments will cement India’s long-term leadership in AI. By addressing these challenges, India can convert perceived gaps into advantages. For India to accelerate its AI capabilities and reach its development potential, there is a need to introduce enabling policies which boost the industry’s commitment to India’s AI journey. Given this pivotal moment for India, this report addresses these core challenges across the six pillars and provides strategic policy recommendations to enhance the AI ecosystem.
Press release
Per Deloitte India’s latest report titled Attracting AI Data Centre Infrastructure Investment in India, the country could require an additional 45–50 million square feet of real estate space
Liquid cooling adoption
As rack density increases, cooling demands in data centres are intensifying due to the substantial heat generated by denselypacked computing equipment, driving the adoption of advanced solutions such as liquid cooling and rear-door heat exchangers.
