Mumbai strengthens lead as India’s data centre capital, says report

Mumbai strengthens lead as India’s data centre capital: Knight Frank

Mumbai has cemented its position as India’s data centre capital, accounting for 40 percent of the country’s capacity and 44 percent of its live information technology (IT) capacity, Knight Frank’s latest Asia-Pacific Data Centres 2025 report has said.

In the first half of 2025, the city crossed the 4 gigawatt (GW) milestone, a 14.3 percent rise in capacity. Of this, 591 megawatt (MW) is operational, 185MW is under construction, and nearly 3.2GW is in the pipeline.

“With over 3GW of capacity in the pipeline and strong policy support for green data centre parks, Mumbai is attracting sustained global investment,” Knight Frank India chairman and managing director Shishir Baijal said.

Despite the robust growth, demand has kept pace. Mumbai recorded 97.6MW of take-up in the six months to June, leaving vacancy at a tight 5.4 percent, compared with India’s overall rate of 12.3 percent.

The surge is being driven by cloud adoption, data localisation requirements and the growth of financial technology (fintech) and banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) firms.

Two-thirds of capacity under construction in Mumbai has already been pre-leased. With only three live sites capable of supporting hyperscale deployments of more than 2.5MW, the market faces short-term supply challenges for larger requirements, the report said.

This environment is opening the door for global players and joint ventures to build high-capacity facilities in a market long dominated by local firms. Landmark projects include Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT)’s 500MW NAV2 campus and Blackstone-Panchshil Realty’s planned 500MW artificial intelligence (AI) facility.

As cloud adoption and AI workloads accelerate, Mumbai’s unique strengths, its robust subsea cable connectivity, scalable power infrastructure, proximity to enterprise hubs, and progressive state policies are consolidating its position as India’s data centre capital, Baijal said.

Metros like Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru are gaining traction but can’t match Mumbai’s scale, speed, and ability to serve as South Asia’s gateway for cloud, AI, and enterprise workloads,” he said.

Hyderabad is shaping up as a hyperscale-first market with over 500MW in the pipeline.

ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) India has collaborated with the Telangana government to develop a 100MW campus, while NTT has announced an Rs 10,500 crore ($1.25 billion) AI-focused campus with 400MW capacity.

Hyderabad is now India’s second-largest data centre market with 2.1GW, followed by Chennai (1.6GW), New Delhi (712MW) and Bengaluru (307MW).

Regional context

The report notes that the Asia-Pacific region announced nearly 13GW of new projects in the first half of 2025, more than double the 5GW announced in the year-ago period.

Investment commitments already exceed $180 billion, with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Meta together pledging over $160 billion this year.

Fred Fitzalan, head of data centres Asia-Pacific, Knight Frank, said, “The sheer volume of new projects in the region highlights just how important the region has become in the global digital infrastructure landscape.”

Coordinating this rapid growth is a complex challenge, as operators must keep pace with advances in technology and rising energy needs, all while ensuring new facilities are delivered in step with evolving demands, he said.

Malaysia’s Johor has emerged as Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing hub, with capacity almost doubling to 5.8GW in the past year. Tokyo continues to remain a key hub with 4.2GW, while Melbourne is rising rapidly as Sydney faces land and power constraints. Seoul also remains attractive to investors, with large-scale AI-focused investments underway.