India is well placed to attract large-scale investments in data centres as the country faces no shortage of electricity and its national power grid is capable of meeting future demand surges, Union minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday, ANI reported.Addressing a press conference on the energy sector, Goyal said India’s integrated national grid of 500 gigawatts (GW) — among the largest in the world — gives it a clear advantage over several advanced economies. “Europe does not have a national grid. Even the US does not have a national grid. But India has a national grid. So we are a preferred destination for data centres,” he said, adding that sufficient power would be available for households, farmers, industry, commercial establishments, data centres and global capability centres (GCCs).His remarks come amid growing interest from global technology majors in India’s data centre and AI infrastructure ecosystem. In October, Google announced a $15 billion investment to build an AI infrastructure hub in Andhra Pradesh, including a gigawatt-scale data centre in partnership with the Adani Group. The project is expected to generate 5,000–6,000 direct jobs and up to 30,000 jobs overall.Last week, Amazon Web Services (AWS) said it would invest $7 billion over the next 14 years to expand its data centre footprint in Telangana. Earlier this month, Microsoft announced plans to invest $17.5 billion in India to build infrastructure and sovereign capabilities for an AI-first future.On coal-based power generation, Goyal said capacity additions were necessary to ensure reliable and affordable electricity for a developing economy. “We cannot allow the people to be deprived of adequate power,” he said, adding that higher domestic coal production would also help reduce imports. India is also exploring alternatives such as converting coal into synthetic gas, he said.While reaffirming India’s commitment to clean energy, Goyal said the country would take a pragmatic approach to balance transition goals with the need for low-cost power. He noted that thermal power requirements are projected to rise to 307GW by 2035.Highlighting improvements in the sector’s financial health, Goyal said debt levels of power generation companies had fallen sharply — from Rs 1.4 lakh crore four years ago to about Rs 6,500 crore now. “As we march towards Viksit Bharat@2047, India’s energy sector will be seen as a global case study in managing scale, speed and sustainability together,” he said.Separately, minister of state for power Shripad Naik told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that data centres currently account for around 1GW of power demand in India, which is estimated to rise to 13.56GW by FY 2031-32 due to upcoming projects. He added that electricity consumption by data centres is not centrally tracked at present, as many arrange captive power for self-consumption.
