India to become the ‘data centre of the world’? Piyush Goyal reveals massive $200 billion opportunity

Goyal made the remarks while chairing a CEO Roundtable on “Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) for Scaling India’s Data Centre Ecosystem” at Vanijya Bhawan in New Delhi.

The Minister said the roundtable provided an engaging and fruitful platform for discussions with stakeholders from the data centre industry on measures to further promote the sector and enhance ease of doing business in India.

Goyal expressed confidence in India’s growth prospects despite global uncertainty and volatility, highlighting the country’s 7.8 per cent economic growth in the first quarter.

He underlined the significant potential of the data centre and semiconductor industries, India’s growing presence in artificial intelligence (AI), and its expanding manufacturing base for globally competitive products.

According to Goyal, these sectors will play a key role in powering India’s economic growth in the coming years and contribute towards the country’s goal of becoming a USD 30 trillion economy by 2047.

The Minister said the interaction with industry stakeholders was marked by positivity, adding that discussions between various departments of the Government of India and state governments had already helped resolve several issues.

He also highlighted the investment potential of the sector, saying it was encouraging to see the industry geared up for investments of around USD 200 billion in India’s data centre ecosystem.

Goyal said the discussions provided valuable insights and ideas on how India could emerge as the “data centre of the world”.

The roundtable highlighted rapidly growing demand driven by cloud computing and AI workloads. Hyperscalers accounted for more than 80 per cent of data centre absorption in the first half of 2026, underscoring India’s emergence as a major destination for AI infrastructure.

The government expects investments in India’s data centre sector to reach around USD 200 billion, reflecting the scale of opportunities emerging from the country’s rapidly expanding digital economy and AI ecosystem.

Industry stakeholders also discussed measures to ensure adequate and reliable power availability for data centres. These included cluster-based transmission and substation planning, Day-1 sanctioned load, dual power feeders and facilitating renewable energy procurement across state boundaries.

The need for data-centre-ready land banks and pre-identified power-ready parcels was also highlighted as an important step towards accelerating project development.

The roundtable further reviewed regulatory measures aimed at reducing project timelines and improving investment certainty. These included streamlined single-window approvals and appropriate building regulations specifically suited to data centre projects.

The discussions also noted significant progress since the previous roundtable. The National Building Code 2026 now specifically recognises data centres under Group E, with a dedicated annexure outlining requirements for such facilities, including fire-risk assessment and data-centre-specific performance indicators.