Beyond tax holidays: Data centres seek reliable access to green power, last-mile connectivity and faster approvals

India generates nearly 20% of global data, but hosts only about 3% of the global data centre capacity (approximately 1.2-1.7 GW out of over 100 GW globally). It is estimated that 90% to 95% of data generated by Indians is stored or processed overseas. The tax holiday announced in Budget 2026 for foreign cloud service providers using Indian data centres is a timely and strategic intervention aimed at narrowing India’s data infrastructure gap. It is also a strong signal that India wants to become a serious global data centre and AI computing hub.