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India's data centre capacity has increased more than four-fold from 375 MW in 2020 to around 1,575 MW currently, driven by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing, the government informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada said the IndiaAI Mission is building a sovereign AI ecosystem while the government is putting in place measures to ensure the environmentally sustainable expansion of AI infrastructure and data centres. "Data Centre industry in India has been growing at a steady pace and has grown from 375 MW in 2020 to current capacity of about 1575 MW. The rapid growth of AI and high-performance computing is driving increasing demand for data centre capacity in the country," the reply said. The minister said the IndiaAI Mission aims to build a sovereign AI stack comprising compute capacity, foundational models and indigenous applications, with a focus on democratising access to AI technologies. To support sustainable expansion, the government has introduced multiple measures to promote renewable energy and improve resource efficiency. These include the Green Energy Open Access Rules, Green Energy Corridor Scheme, Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM), National Green Hydrogen Mission, National Programme on High Efficiency Solar PV Modules, Offshore Wind VGF Scheme and Solar Park Scheme. The reply also stated that the recently enacted Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Act is intended to strengthen reliable clean power for emerging sectors such as AI and data centres, including the future deployment of Small Modular and Micro Nuclear Reactors. The government informed Parliament that the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has published Indian standards covering Power Usage Effectiveness, Carbon Usage Effectiveness, Cooling Efficiency Ratio and Water Usage Effectiveness for data centres. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency has also notified the Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC 2017) and the Energy Conservation & Sustainable Building Code (ECSBC 2024), which prescribe energy efficiency and water conservation norms relevant to data centres. According to the reply, the industry is increasingly adopting advanced cooling technologies, including direct-to-chip liquid cooling, adiabatic cooling, immersion cooling and closed-loop liquid cooling systems, while deploying high-density racks to support AI workloads with lower power and water consumption. The government said these measures together provide a framework for improving electricity efficiency, renewable energy use, cooling efficiency, carbon emissions and water usage as AI infrastructure continues to expand. (ANI)
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