India’s Data Centre Push May Cross $200 Billion: Vaishnaw

India’s rapidly expanding data centre ecosystem could attract investments exceeding $200 billion as the country scales up AI-ready digital infrastructure, with nuclear energy set to play a pivotal role in providing clean and reliable power, Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said.

The minister noted that investment proposals worth $90 billion have already been announced, with nearly $70 billion entering the construction phase. Emphasising the power needs of AI-driven infrastructure, Vaishnaw said nuclear energy is essential for ensuring long-term sustainability and stability for the AI economy.

Global technology majors are committing strongly to India. Between October and December alone, Google announced investments of $15 billion, Microsoft $17.5 billion, Amazon $35 billion, and Digital Connexion $11 billion towards AI infrastructure, including data centres.

Policy support has been reinforced through the Union Budget, which proposes a tax holiday until 2047 for foreign cloud service providers using India-based data centres, subject to domestic services being delivered through Indian reseller entities. A 15% safe harbour on costs for related-party data centre services further improves investment certainty.

In parallel, Parliament has cleared the SHANTI nuclear energy bill, opening the civil nuclear sector to private participation—an important step in meeting the energy demands of hyperscale data centres.

Vaishnaw said these initiatives are catalysing interest across the AI value chain, including AI server manufacturing and chip assembly and packaging. With India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 strengthening domestic capabilities, he said India is well positioned to emerge as a global hub for AI infrastructure, talent, and innovation.