States should evaluate natural resources before pitching for data centres: NITI Aayog

Workers and excavators operate at the site of an Amazon data centre in Thane. File. | Photo Credit: Reuters

An evaluation framework jointly developed by the NITI Aayog and Deloitte India calls for data centre approvals to be linked to verified availability of electricity, water and other infrastructure, while requiring States to assess the projects’ economic benefits against the public support they receive.

The document, made public on Wednesday (October 14, 2026), comes amid the rapid expansion of India’s data centre industry. India had 271 data centres as of January 2026, according to a February report by the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW).

The installed capacity of these data centres stood at about 1.57 gigawatts (GW) in August 2026, according to the Union government. Industry estimates project that such capacity could reach 4.5-6.5 GW by 2030.

India’s data centres consumed approximately 13 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity as of 2024, equivalent to about 0.8% of India’s total electricity demand. Consumption is projected to rise nearly fivefold to 57 TWh by 2030, or about 2.6% of demand, according to the CEEW.