Artificial intelligence-related workloads, including data centers, could account for about 20% of India’s incremental electricity demand by 2030 as digital services and compute usage scale up, according to an India Capital Management report (pdf).

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India’s power demand is estimated to hit 817 terawatt-hours (TWh) by 2030, compared to an earlier forecast of 661 TWh, with around 156 TWh of the increase attributed to AI-related demand. The updated projection places India’s incremental electricity demand 32% higher than the US and nearly three times that of the European Union over the same period.

Why it matters

For MENA investors, India’s accelerating AI-led power demand marks the emergence of a large, policy-backed infrastructure investment cycle rather than a narrow technology shift. India’s data center capacity is projected to expand nearly fivefold to about 8.12 GW by 2030, outpacing the roughly threefold growth expected in the US. Meeting this demand requires USD 450-500 bn financing through 2030, according to the report.

Gulf-based sovereign wealth funds and investors — including Adia, ADQ, PIF, QIA, and Mubadala — have poured bns into India’s major energy producers, according to an Arab Gulf States Institute report.

What’s next

Global technology firms are expanding capacity in India to support AI and cloud workloads, with Google, Amazon, and Microsoft committing a total of USD 67.5 bn over the next five years.

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