Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Thursday, June 11, 2026, shared a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscoring India's emergence as a global hub for large-scale, modern data centre infrastructure, framing it as a cornerstone of the country's integration into global supply and value chains.

Context

The minister quoted Prime Minister Modi as saying: 'Aaj vishwa ke sabse bade aur aadhunik data centers Bharat mein ban rahe hain. Yahi Bharat ki global supply aur value chain ka mazboot pillar banayegi.' ['Today, the world's largest and most modern data centres are being built in India. This will become the strong pillar of India's global supply and value chain.'] The post, shared with the hashtag #LongestServingElectedPMModi, was accompanied by a video, suggesting the quote was drawn from a public address by the Prime Minister.

The statement positions data centre development not merely as a technology investment but as a structural element of India's broader economic architecture, linking digital infrastructure directly to the country's role in global commerce.

Policy Backdrop

India's push to attract hyperscale data centre investment has deep policy roots. The Digital India programme, launched in 2015, established the foundational goal of transforming India into a digitally empowered economy, with data infrastructure as a key pillar. MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) subsequently circulated a Draft National Data Centre Policy in 2020 aimed at incentivising large-scale investment through fiscal measures and streamlined land allocation.

Successive Union Budgets have reinforced this direction through Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes and infrastructure status designations for data centres, reducing the cost of capital for developers and operators. The intent has been to reduce India's dependence on overseas facilities while positioning the country as an alternative hub amid global supply-chain diversification.

Stakeholders and Impact

The primary beneficiaries of this policy thrust include global cloud providers, domestic IT conglomerates, and the broader ecosystem of colocation operators and enterprise technology firms. As Western and Asian corporations accelerate supply-chain diversification strategies, India's combination of land availability, a large domestic data consumption market, and improving power infrastructure has made it an increasingly attractive destination.

For the IT industry, large-scale domestic data centre capacity reduces latency, lowers compliance risk under data localisation frameworks, and creates significant employment in construction, operations, and ancillary services. State governments have also begun competing actively through their own data centre policies, offering dedicated zones and subsidised power tariffs.

What's Next

Attention will now focus on the rollout of state-level data centre policies and whether the next Union Budget introduces fresh PLI outlays or expanded land allocations for hyperscale projects. Minister Vaishnaw, who oversees both the Electronics and IT portfolio and the broader digital infrastructure agenda, is expected to remain central to translating the Prime Minister's articulated vision into specific policy instruments.

India's ability to sustain momentum in this space will depend on resolving persistent challenges around uninterrupted power supply, land acquisition timelines, and submarine cable connectivity — factors that global operators weigh heavily when committing to hyperscale builds.