India's top seven data centre markets added 178 MW of new capacity in the first half of 2026, pushing total operational capacity to 1,789 MW, according to a report released on Wednesday, 16 September by global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield. The figures underscore the accelerating scale of India's digital infrastructure buildout, driven by hyperscale cloud adoption, artificial intelligence deployments, and enterprise digital transformation.

Scale of the Expansion

The country's data centre footprint now spans 147 data centres operated by 33 providers across its leading markets — a sign of deepening maturity in India's digital infrastructure ecosystem. The sector is projected to receive an additional 3,860 MW of supply by 2030, comprising 509 MW currently under construction and 3,351 MW in the planning stage.

Despite this wave of new supply, colocation vacancy stood at 14.9% as of H1 2026, indicating that demand is broadly keeping pace with additions and that the market retains headroom to absorb further capacity without significant pricing disruption.

Mumbai Anchors the Ecosystem

Mumbai remains the undisputed hub of India's data centre market, with 890 MW of operational capacity — just under half the national total — and the country's largest upcoming supply pipeline of 1,726 MW. The city's dominance is underpinned by robust digital infrastructure, reliable power availability, and extensive subsea and terrestrial connectivity.

Gautam Saraf, Executive Managing Director, Mumbai & New Business at Cushman & Wakefield, said: 'With nearly 3.9 GW of additional capacity expected across the country's leading markets by 2030, this deeper ecosystem will be critical in supporting the next phase of cloud adoption, AI deployment and data-driven growth across the economy.'

Capital Requirements and Investment Opportunity

India is projected to require $29.9 billion in development capital through 2030, ranking it among the Asia Pacific (APAC) region's largest data centre investment markets. Despite years of rapid growth, the country remains one of the region's most underpenetrated digital infrastructure markets, with approximately 825,333 people per MW of operational capacity — a metric that highlights the substantial runway for future expansion.

Notably, nearly 77% of APAC's projected capital expenditure through 2030 — approximately $215 billion — is expected to be deployed across Japan, Malaysia, Australia, India, and Indonesia, cementing India's place as a critical node in the region's infrastructure investment story.

India in the APAC Context

The Asia Pacific region as a whole is projected to see its data centre capacity increase 2.7-fold by 2030, outpacing the Americas (2.6-fold) and EMEA (2.3-fold). This growth is backed by a development pipeline of 26,455 MW against 15,135 MW of current operational capacity. The APAC sector is estimated to require over $280 billion in capital expenditure through 2030, with operational asset values expected to exceed $950 billion by the end of the decade.

With AI infrastructure demand intensifying globally and India's cloud adoption still in an early growth phase, analysts expect the country's data centre investment cycle to accelerate further into the second half of the decade.