AI data centres to add 26.3 GW to India's power demand by FY32: Govt

The estimate is nearly double the government's previous projection made in March, when the power ministry said electricity demand from data centres could reach 13.56 GW by FY32.

India’s power demand from artificial intelligence (AI) data centres is expected to rise to 26.3 GW by 2031–32, the Union government said on Monday.

 

In a written reply to Parliament, Minister of State (MoS) for Power Shripad Naik said, “An additional load of 26.3 GW from artificial intelligence data centres is projected by 2031–32, which is expected to be integrated into the grid and primarily served by renewable energy capacity.”

 

This estimate is nearly double the government's previous projection made in March this year, when the power ministry said electricity demand from data centres could reach 13.56 GW by FY32.

 

To meet the growing electricity demand, the power ministry is building transmission infrastructure in a phased manner and adding generation capacity, including renewable energy, Naik said.

 

India's data centre expansion

 

The government's revised projection comes as Indian conglomerates and global technology companies accelerate investments in AI-ready data centre infrastructure across the country.

 

Last week, HCLTech signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sarvam AI to build a $1.5 billion AI data centre in Odisha. Global technology companies are also scaling up their presence in India, with Google building a $15 billion AI data centre hub in Visakhapatnam and Microsoft committing $3 billion to expand its cloud and AI infrastructure in the country.

 

India's data centre capacity is projected to increase more than five-fold to 12 GW by 2030 from 2.2 GW in 2025, according to a recent report by Wood Mackenzie. The report estimates that AI-dedicated capacity will surge to 6,546 MW by 2030 from 275 MW in 2025.

 

It added that India's digital economy is driving demand for data centre infrastructure, with the country's AI market projected to reach ₹11.7 trillion by 2032.

Projected peak power demand

India's peak power demand is projected to rise steadily over the next six years, reaching 388 GW by FY32 from 289 GW in FY27, according to the Central Electricity Authority's (CEA) midterm review of the 20th Electric Power Survey, which the Ministry of Power cited in its reply to Parliament. The sharpest year-on-year increase is expected in FY27, followed by annual growth of around 5-7 per cent. 

Financial Year	Peak Demand (GW)	Year-on-Year Growth (%)
2026–27	289	17.96
2027–28	305	5.54
2028–29	325	6.55
2029–30	345	6.15
2030–31	364	5.51
2031–32	388	6.59