India’s data-centre expansion brings two business questions into focus. Can a site get power when it needs it? And how much of its income will depend on a few large customers?
Crisil Ratings’ November 3 outlook puts the scale in view. It forecasts about 7.5 gigawatts of installed capacity by March 2030, a roughly fivefold rise. The estimate covers third-party colocation centres, which rent space and supporting infrastructure to customers. It is a forecast, not capacity already in service.
The Breakdown
Crisil expects about three-quarters of the roughly 6 GW of upcoming capacity to be built in Visakhapatnam, Mumbai and Hyderabad. That puts the local power network at the heart of the plan.
For a developer, a national power total offers little help if its own site gets a late connection. The useful questions are local. When will the link be ready? Who must build it? And who pays if the schedule slips?
A delay can leave two clocks running at different speeds. Money has gone into land, buildings and equipment. Yet the date when customers can use the site moves back. How much that costs depends on loan terms, customer deals and how long the delay lasts. It is not a reason to assume every planned project will miss its target.
Big customers bring a trade-off
Hyperscalers, the large cloud and computing companies, can give a developer a sizeable base of demand. Crisil expects their leased share of industry capacity to reach 75–80% by FY2030, up from 60–65% in FY2026. It says contract terms have stretched to 15–20 years.
Those long deals can help a developer plan its income. But when a few large tenants account for most of the income, losing one can leave a large gap. The scale that makes a customer worth winning can also give it more weight in price talks.
That is a risk to assess, rather than evidence that rents have already fallen. A large order can be valuable even when the buyer has a strong hand. The question is whether the price and other terms leave enough room for the developer to meet its costs.
Why This Matters
Sify’s October 28 results show why costs deserve attention, too. Its management said growth plans affect staff costs, interest and depreciation. Those comments cover its wider business, not just data centres.
For lenders and developers, the practical task is to line up three things: the power connection, the customer’s start date and the financing plan. A long lease helps with demand. Its value also depends on when the site can deliver and what it costs to do so.
The Crunch
The next phase of India’s data-centre build-out will reward more than adding space. Each project needs power on time and customer terms that can support its costs. Those details will help determine how much of the forecast becomes a sound business.
Related categories: Technology & AI
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