India Sets Ambitious Target: Attracting Rp13 Trillion in Data Centre Investment

India has recently announced a two-decade tax exemption for foreign technology companies that operate data centres in the South Asian nation to provide services to overseas clients.

However, the exemption does not apply to services provided to clients within India, which will continue to be subject to taxation.

This measure is part of India’s effort to attract investors to its rapidly developing digital infrastructure sector and establish itself as a global hub for artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration has previously launched various incentives, including granting infrastructure status to data centres to accelerate their development. Several state governments have also relaxed land-use regulations.

Last month, New Delhi hosted a global AI summit that brought together figures shaping the future of the technology, including Sam Altman from OpenAI, Sundar Pichai from Google, and Dario Amodei from Anthropic.

The event demonstrated India’s desire to have its voice heard regarding AI’s impact on developing nations and who determines how AI is built and used.

The Asia-Pacific region is projected to attract approximately US$800 billion (Rp13.591 trillion) in data centre investment by 2030, according to consultancy firm Deloitte. New Delhi aims to capture a substantial portion of this capital flow.

Indian conglomerates such as Reliance Industries Ltd., led by Asia’s richest person Mukesh Ambani, as well as Adani Enterprises and Tata Group, have also made multi-billion-dollar investment commitments to build national AI infrastructure—some working in partnership with American technology giants.

These investments are expected to position India as a global leader in AI and cloud computing and create thousands of new jobs. However, Internet Freedom Foundation Director Apar Gupta stated that data centres are not equivalent to AI leadership.

“They add servers and storage, not the capacity to build and control advanced AI,” he said. Gupta expressed concern that India is too focused on building infrastructure whilst neglecting other important areas.