India's Data Centre Boom Goes Global: Mumbai Climbs World Rankings as Tier-II Cities Join the Race

India's data centre story is no longer confined to Mumbai.

The country is rapidly emerging as one of the world's most important digital infrastructure markets, with global investment flowing into both established hubs and a new generation of Tier-II cities.

According to Knight Frank's Global Data Centre Atlas 2026, Mumbai now ranks 15th globally in operational data centre capacity and 11th worldwide by development pipeline, underlining India's growing importance in the global digital economy.

The financial capital currently has 774 MW of operational IT capacity, with nearly 5 GW of additional capacity planned, making it the country's undisputed data centre leader.

But the next phase of growth is spreading well beyond Mumbai.

The report identifies Hyderabad as a preferred destination for hyperscale cloud providers, citing abundant land, supportive government policies, a thriving technology ecosystem and competitive operating costs.

Bengaluru continues to attract demand from Global Capability Centres (GCCs), research and development operations, and enterprise colocation providers, while Chennai is strengthening its role as a gateway for internet traffic to Southeast Asia, helped by competitive power tariffs and favourable policy support.

Meanwhile, Pune and the National Capital Region (NCR) are witnessing growing demand from banks, financial institutions and public cloud companies looking for cost-effective capacity.

Perhaps the biggest shift, however, is happening in smaller cities.

Knight Frank says Visakhapatnam and Jamnagar are emerging as new greenfield data centre destinations, supported by government initiatives and planned subsea cable connectivity that could reshape India's digital infrastructure map.

Despite the rapid expansion, the report notes that India's data centre industry is still at a relatively early stage compared with mature global markets such as Northern Virginia, Tokyo, London, Dublin and Singapore.

The next wave of growth, it says, will depend on faster project approvals, reliable power supply, stronger transmission infrastructure, expanded fibre networks, sustainable energy sources and the development of larger AI-ready data centre campuses.

With demand for cloud computing, artificial intelligence and digital services continuing to surge, India's data centre boom appears to be entering a new phase—one where the country is no longer just building capacity, but positioning itself as one of the world's key digital infrastructure hubs.

(With inputs from ANI)