In the first half of the year, there was a 21% increase in the total data centre stock across India. Mumbai led with a substantial 54.9% share of the total capacity, followed by Chennai (12.3%), Bengaluru (8.2%), and Pune (7.2%), according to a report by Savills. During the January-June period of 2024, the country saw approximately 71 MW of IT capacity added across key data centre micro-markets, with around 200 MW in IT capacity transactions occurring during this time.
The market is projected to grow to approximately 400 MW of IT capacity by the end of 2024. The report also highlighted an increased demand for Edge Data Centres (smaller facilities located close to the population they serve) emerging from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The total stock of data centres in India grew by 21% year-on-year to 942 MW in H1 2024, up from 778 MW in the same period last year.
Since 2014, when the metric stood at 158 MW, the total capacity has grown at a compounded annual growth rate of 22%. This demand has been driven by hyperscalers, BFSI, IT and ITeS, and service sectors, all relying heavily on data centre operators for colocation and related services. “We project a strong demand for data centre capacity in India by the end of 2024, with an estimated requirement of 400 MW across major cities,” said Srihari Srinivasan, Director and Lead Data Centre Services, Savills India.
Srinivasan added that while supply is expected to reach 350 MW during the same period, data centre operators are expanding their service offerings beyond colocation to include networking, cloud solutions, specialized hardware like GPUs, and other managed services. According to the report, hyperscalers accounted for 22% of the total stock, while enterprises held 10%. The remaining 68% was utilized by a combination of hyperscalers and enterprises, showcasing a diverse utilization pattern within the data centre industry.
“This growth is being driven by surging internet usage, the rise of 5G, and the need for ultra-low latency for mobiles, which is also creating a growing demand for edge data centres in specific areas,” said Srihari Srinivasan. He added that the increasing adoption of AI and IoT across various industries is fueling the need for data centre services, with GPU-powered solutions playing a key role in addressing these demands.
