India data centre footprint may reach 101 million sq ft

What happened

India’s data centre footprint is expected to reach over 101 million sq ft by 2030, from nearly 27 million sq ft in H1 2026, according to Anarock Capital’s report. 6 million sq ft in 2007 to 27 million sq ft across 164 data centres in H1 2026. 8 GW as of H1 2026. 7 GW by 2030, a more than threefold increase over the next four years.

Why it matters

Shobhit Agarwal, CEO, Anarock Capital, said the projected 101 million sq ft data centre footprint reflects the physical scale of the real estate opportunity. According to the report, demand for strategically located land, power infrastructure, renewable energy, engineering and construction services, fibre connectivity and specialised cooling solutions will rise as operators expand their portfolios.

Globally, data centre capacity crossed 92 GW in H1 2026 and is projected to reach over 210 GW by 2030. “The massive scale of investment commitments demonstrates the long-term confidence surrounding the sector, and its strategic importance to the digital economy,” Agarwal said. He added that the growth is being driven by cloud adoption, rising data consumption, artificial intelligence, digital payments, enterprise digitalisation and the need for secure digital infrastructure.

Mumbai Metropolitan Region remains India’s largest data centre hub, supported by its financial and commercial ecosystem, enterprise demand and connectivity advantages. MMR has 54 operational data centres with IT capacity of 812 MW and accounts for about half of India’s data centre market. Chennai follows with 25 data centres and IT capacity of 298 MW.

What to watch

Delhi-NCR and Bengaluru have 18 data centres each, with IT capacity of 179 MW and 137 MW, respectively. The report said the emergence of data centre clusters will be influenced by land and power availability, network connectivity, renewable energy access and proximity to demand centres. AI is expected to become one of the biggest demand drivers for data centres. 5 per cent, with tenures extending up to 12 years.

The report said India’s data centre opportunity will reshape land-use patterns, infrastructure investments and the commercial real estate landscape across the country’s leading digital markets.