India's data centre pipeline hits 8.33 GW as AI demand reshapes digital infra: Knight Frank India

India's data centre sector is witnessing an unprecedented infrastructure build-up, with the total development pipeline across major markets reaching 8.33 GW, according to Knight Frank India. The scale of future supply, driven by accelerating artificial intelligence adoption, cloud computing growth and data localisation requirements, is more than five times the country's current live data centre capacity of 1.6 GW.

Knight Frank India said India currently has 0.32 GW of data centre capacity under construction, while another 2.92 GW has reached the committed stage. An additional 5.41 GW is in early stages of development, underscoring the depth of supply planned across key hubs. "The significant share of early-stage developments--representing nearly two-thirds of the total pipeline--demonstrates strong confidence in India's long-term digital economy prospects," Knight Frank India noted.

Mumbai continues to dominate the landscape with the largest pipeline at 3.75 GW, comprising 0.17 GW under construction, 1.54 GW in committed projects and 2.21 GW in early-stage development. The city's advantage stems from its status as India's financial capital, extensive fibre connectivity, robust power infrastructure and concentration of international subsea cable landings, making it the preferred location for large-scale cloud and AI deployments.


Hyderabad has emerged as the second-largest future market with a 1.93 GW pipeline, supported by proactive government policies, lower operating costs and growing investments from global technology companies. Chennai's pipeline has reached 1.36 GW, backed by its role as India's key gateway for Southeast Asian digital traffic, strong subsea cable connectivity and competitive power tariffs.

Regional specialisation is becoming a key theme, Knight Frank India said. Viral Desai, International Partner, Knight Frank India, said, "India's data centre growth story is increasingly becoming a tale of regional specialization. While Mumbai continues to anchor hyperscale deployments owing to its connectivity advantages, Hyderabad is emerging as a preferred AI infrastructure destination, and Chennai is strengthening its role as a strategic gateway for international data traffic from east. At the same time, Vizag has rapidly emerged as one of India's most active greenfield data centre markets, attracting gigawatt-scale development proposals backed by government support, availability of sizeable land parcels and planned subsea cable connectivity."

NCR, Pune and Bengaluru are also expanding capacity, with pipelines of 0.54 GW, 0.43 GW and 0.18 GW respectively. Knight Frank India expects India's data centre ecosystem to remain one of the fastest-growing globally over the coming decade as global technology companies invest in next-generation computing infrastructure.