Archive · 4 Sep 2026
Moody’s Sees India Data Centres Adding Just 0.13% GDP
India is building many large data centres for storing and processing digital information.
Moody’s says this construction will bring investment, but it will not greatly change the country’s total economy.
Building the centres could add about 0.10% to India’s economy in 2025.
New power-generation projects could add another 0.03%.
Even when the centres are operating, their contribution may be only about 0.13% of GDP by 2030.
Many important machines will be imported from other countries, so less of the money may stay in India.
The centres will create some jobs, but they need fewer workers than many other industries.
Their electricity use should stay below 5% of India’s total demand, although strong local power connections will be needed.
Moody’s projects India’s data centre construction will add 0.10% to 2025 nominal GDP.
Additional power-generation investment could contribute another 0.03% of GDP.
The sector’s contribution is expected to remain about 0.13% of GDP once fully operational by 2030.
Imported servers, semiconductors, cooling systems and specialised equipment may limit domestic value creation.
Data centres should use less than 5% of India’s electricity by 2030, but local grid connections will remain important.
- Who
- Moody’s Ratings assessed India’s planned data centre investments.
- What
- The data centre build-out is expected to have a modest effect on India’s overall GDP despite substantial investment.
- When
- The projections cover construction in 2025 and operations through 2030.
- Where
- India, including major data centre hubs such as Mumbai; Malaysia is also identified as a major regional investment destination.
- Why
- High reliance on imported equipment and the sector’s capital-intensive structure limit domestic value creation and employment.
Modest Near-Term Impact
Potential Wider Benefits
Effect on national growth
Modest Near-Term Impact
Moody’s says the investment is strategically important but remains too small relative to India’s economy to materially change its national growth profile.
Potential Wider Benefits
The sector could have a larger long-term effect if it supports cloud adoption, digital-services exports and wider technology-ecosystem development.
Domestic value creation
Modest Near-Term Impact
Heavy reliance on imported servers, semiconductors, cooling systems and specialised hardware limits the value retained within India.
Potential Wider Benefits
Supplier localisation could increase the domestic economic payoff from data centre investment.
Employment
Modest Near-Term Impact
Because data centres are highly capital-intensive, job creation is expected to remain limited and concentrated in specialised technical roles.
Potential Wider Benefits
Construction and operations can still support employment in infrastructure, telecommunications and related providers, although the projected overall gains are small.
- Construction contribution
- Data centre capital expenditure is projected to add about 0.10% to India’s 2025 nominal GDP.
- Power investment
- Additional power-generation investment could contribute another 0.03% of 2025 nominal GDP.
- Operational contribution
- The sector is expected to contribute about 0.13% of India’s GDP once fully operational by 2030.
- Employment
- Construction-related employment is estimated at 0.01% of 2025 industry employment, rising to 0.02% during operations.
- Electricity demand
- Data centres are expected to account for less than 5% of India’s total electricity demand by 2030.
- Announced investments
- Announced investments in Indian data centre capacity have crossed $250 billion.
- Regional comparison
- Malaysia’s data centre construction could contribute 0.86% of GDP, with operations contributing as much as 1.75%.
