India’s data center boom faces sustainability test

Photo: unsplash.com, photo editor: Adelina Mamedova

India’s fast-growing digital economy is fueling a rapid increase in data center construction, but this boom poses serious challenges: rising water consumption, soaring energy demand and threats to long-term sustainability, BBC reports.

Driven by global demand for AI and cloud computing, India has become a major growth market for data infrastructure. Analysts expect the country’s data center capacity to increase by more than 75% by 2027, as global and domestic companies invest heavily. For instance, Google recently announced a $15 billion AI data center in Andhra Pradesh.

However, this progress comes at an environmental cost. According to the World Bank, India has just 4% of the world’s freshwater resources but supports 18% of its population. Data centers, which require significant amounts of water for cooling, are expected to more than double their consumption from 150 billion liters in 2025 to 358 billion liters by 2030. The challenge is worsened by the fact that most facilities are located in already water-stressed cities such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru.

Energy consumption is another growing concern. The International Energy Agency projects that data center electricity use in India could double by the end of the decade, accounting for up to 2% of the nation’s total power demand. Without stronger clean energy requirements, this could lead to an increased reliance on fossil fuels.