News: JLL: India Data Centre Capacity to Reach 6 GW by 2029-02-09-2026
A JLL India report projects data centre capacity rising from 1.6 GW in June 2026 to 6 GW by 2029, making India Asia’s fastest-growing digital infrastructure market. Artificial Intelligence (AI) workloads and hyperscale cloud will drive it, with Mumbai and Hyderabad getting most supply, and it needs USD 110 billion of capital.
In H1 2026 (January-June), absorption was 101 MW, over 20% above the three-year H1 average. Deliveries of 85 MW, mainly in Mumbai and Chennai, and faster pre-committed handovers took vacancy to a record-low 2.8%, which the report called exceptional market fundamentals.
Of the 4.4 GW pipeline through 2029, Mumbai gets 35% (predominantly colocation), Hyderabad 24% (mixed self-build and colocation), Visakhapatnam 14% and Chennai 9%. Spending splits into USD 4 billion for real estate, USD 18 billion for mechanical, electrical and plumbing, and USD 88 billion for servers, racks and other IT equipment. Hyperscalers plan nearly 30% of new capacity through self-build, delivering 1.4 GW by 2029 and making Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam gigawatt-scale hubs.
The Union Budget 2026-27 tax holiday for foreign cloud providers, running to March 31, 2047, has attracted over USD 50 billion in foreign commitments. JLL’s Rachit Mohan, Managing Director, Data Centre Leasing, APAC, said incentives plus hyperscale AI investment make India a strategic global hub, and with 4.4 GW needing USD 110 billion by 2030, an entirely new digital infrastructure ecosystem is forming.
