India's data-centre capacity grew more than fourfold in five years, and about half of it sits in one metro area. That tells you where the industry went. It does not tell you where your next site should be.
This article gives the official numbers, shows why other numbers differ, and lists the checks that matter on a site.
What is the official count?
Jitin Prasada, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, gave a written reply in the Lok Sabha, reported by IANS on 18 March 2026. It said:
- India's data-centre capacity grew from 375 MW in 2020 to over 1,500 MW in 2025.
- By city in 2025: Mumbai and Navi Mumbai 790 MW, Chennai 305 MW, Bengaluru 182 MW, Hyderabad 152 MW, Delhi-NCR and Noida 76 MW. Pune and Kolkata hold smaller shares, with no figures given.
- The Reserve Bank of India requires that payment-system data be stored in India. That is one named policy reason for domestic capacity.
By our own sum, the five named cities add up to 1,505 MW. Mumbai and Navi Mumbai are about half of that. The sum is our arithmetic, not a figure from the reply.
Why do other sources give other numbers?
Private estimates for the same year vary. One commercial estimate put the 2025 total near 2,070 MW. Another gave 1,263 MW as of April 2025. Forecasts vary too: about 1.8 GW by 2027 in one, above 4.5 GW by 2030 in another.
The reasons are plain. Sources can count different things: live capacity, committed capacity, planned capacity, IT load or utility load. They can also use different dates and different city boundaries. When you read a figure, find these four things:
- Live, under construction or planned?
- IT load or utility load?
- Which date?
- Which city boundary?
Use the government figure as a baseline. Use private figures as scenarios, and say which.
What does city concentration mean for a site?
Clustering has benefits. Network links, skilled labour and operator experience gather where capacity already sits. Clustering has costs too. Land gets scarcer, power at nearby substations gets used up, and local limits on land and power are what operators name most often as their challenge. We found that point in older industry reporting, so treat it as a lead and check it.
A smaller city may offer land and power that a crowded metro cannot. One private forecast expects tier-two cities such as Jaipur, Mohali and Vijayawada to grow from about 82 MW to 300 to 400 MW by 2030. That is a forecast, not a fact.
Eight checks on an Indian data-centre site
- Power. Who is the distribution or transmission utility? What voltage is nearby, how many MW are available, and what is the written timeline? Ask for it in writing.
- Land use. Is the parcel zoned and permitted for this use? Read the land-use field in the master plan or development plan, not only the area name.
- State policy. Many states have data-centre or IT policies with incentives. Policies change, so check the current text of the state you are in.
- Water. What is the source, the cost and the competing demand? Cooling choices change the answer.
- Hazards. Check flood, seismic zone and heat for the exact parcel. Our article on verifying the inputs explains how to keep failed lookups marked "unknown".
- Network. Distance to fibre routes and exchanges. Subsea cable landing stations matter for some operators. The same reply says four cable systems are being commissioned and three more are planned.
- Access and construction. Road access for heavy equipment and the haul route for transformers.
- Approvals. List every authority: land, building, environment, fire, power and local body. Do not assume the order or the time.
What this does not tell you
- It does not rank cities for your project. Your load, your customer and your timeline decide that.
- It does not state any state's current incentive terms. Read the live policy.
- The reply does not name a land, power or approval process for data centres. Do not infer one.
Sources
- Written reply by Jitin Prasada in the Lok Sabha, reported by IANS, 18 March 2026: ianslive.in.
- Private estimates: Knight Frank India data centre update 2025, JLL via W.Media, Colliers via Tele.net, CBRE via Entrepreneur India. Read as search summaries; originals not checked in full. Checked 21 October 2026.
Keystone AEC (keystoneaec.com) is an AI platform for land feasibility and master planning in India and the USA. Bring a parcel and a load, and the first useful step is the power and land-use answer for that exact site.