India’s Data Centre Capacity Set to Cross 3 GW by 2028; APAC’s Most Development-Friendly Market: CBRE
New Delhi, May 29 (TNT): India’s data centre (DC) capacity is expected to surpass 3 gigawatts (GW) by the end of 2028, driven by strong demand from hyperscalers, growing artificial intelligence workloads and favourable development conditions, according to CBRE’s 2026 Asia Pacific Data Centre Trends & Outlook report.
The report elevates India from the “High Growth” category to the “Leading Markets” segment in the Asia-Pacific region, placing it alongside countries such as Japan, Australia, South Korea, China and Malaysia.
According to CBRE’s India Alternate Sectors Outlook 2026, the country’s total data centre capacity stood at around 1,700 MW at the end of 2025, with an additional 500 MW expected to come online during 2026.
Anshuman Magazine, Chairman and CEO – India, South-East Asia, Middle East and Africa at CBRE, said India’s combination of a low-bottleneck development environment, expanding digital economy and strong hyperscaler commitments makes it one of the world’s most attractive data centre markets. He noted that demand is increasingly being driven not only by cloud providers but also by neocloud operators, Global Capability Centres (GCCs) and enterprise users.
Lowest Development Bottlenecks in APAC
CBRE’s Data Centre Development Bottlenecks Scorecard, which evaluates markets based on power availability, construction costs, labour shortages and environmental or community risks, rated India as “Low” across all four categories. India was the only major Asia-Pacific market to achieve this distinction.
The report noted that Mumbai remains the country’s largest data centre hub with more than 800 MW of capacity and another 750 MW under construction or committed. Meanwhile, Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi NCR are emerging as major hyperscale destinations, while Bengaluru continues to lead in enterprise colocation demand.
Investment and AI Demand Accelerating Growth
The report highlighted that total data centre investment across the Asia-Pacific region reached a record $11.6 billion in 2025, with investors increasingly focusing on asset-specific opportunities and operating platforms. Entity-level transactions accounted for $8.3 billion during the year.
Hyperscalers currently account for 50–55 per cent of India’s data centre demand. During the January–March quarter, cloud service providers contracted more than 300 MW of capacity, signalling strong expansion plans.
Beyond traditional cloud providers, demand is now being driven by neocloud operators, semiconductor firms, research and development organisations and GCCs. AI-related workloads are emerging as the principal growth driver, increasing the need for higher rack densities, liquid cooling technologies and advanced computing infrastructure.
Tier-II Cities Gain Momentum
The report noted growing interest from global neocloud providers, which are targeting India’s Tier-I cities with planned capacity take-up of 5–15 MW per site. These firms provide GPU-as-a-Service solutions and cater to AI labs, start-ups, research institutions, media companies and gaming firms.
Tier-II cities are also beginning to emerge as data centre destinations. Edge-style facilities are being developed in Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, while enquiries for containerised data centres in the 8–10 MW range are increasing.
CBRE said investment activity remains largely development-led, with capital flowing into new campuses, self-built projects and build-to-suit facilities, underscoring strong long-term confidence in India’s digital infrastructure sector.
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