India’s data centre expansion can coexist with residential communities through evidence-based standards, finds Policy Consensus Centre
India’s data centre industry is entering a period of rapid expansion, driven by cloud adoption, 5G, data localisation and the accelerating demand for artificial intelligence. Operational capacity has increased from approximately 375 MW in 2020 to more than 1,575 MW in 2025, with estimates suggesting that capacity could reach 4.5–9 GW by 2030. The sector has attracted an estimated US$95 billion in cumulative investment commitments between 2019 and 2025.
A new discussion paper by the Policy Consensus Centre (PCC), titled Living Next to the Cloud: An Evidence-Based Approach to Data Centres in Residential India, examines how this expansion can be managed alongside communities located near data centre facilities. The paper argues that the question is increasingly one of how data centres and residential communities can coexist, rather than whether digital infrastructure can simply be excluded from urban areas.
Following the paper, PCC has also reviewed environmental clearance filings for data...
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