India ties $70 billion data center push to local build-out, jobs

India is linking about $70 billion in planned data center investments to local infrastructure and employment, with tax incentives designed to ensure global cloud providers build and operate capacity within the country, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Wednesday.

The move comes as India steps up efforts to localize digital infrastructure and capture a larger share of global cloud and data services spending.

The Finance Bill, passed by the Lok Sabha, offers a tax holiday until 2047 only if foreign cloud firms use data centers located in India, effectively requiring physical infrastructure to be developed domestically.

“$70 billion in data centers is already underway for investment,” Sitharaman said, adding that cloud capacity could expand “four to ten times by 2030.”

“The tax holiday until 2047 is available only when the foreign cloud provider utilizes data center services located in India,” she said, adding that “the physical infrastructure must be built and operated domestically.”

“This guarantees that construction, operation and maintenance activities, as well as jobs, largely stay local,” she said.

The policy also requires services to Indian users to be routed through domestic reseller entities, a move aimed at ensuring more value creation and service control remains within the domestic ecosystem.

“The sheer volume of construction, cooling infrastructure, power management, cyber security and network operations will generate a lot of direct and indirect jobs in India,” Sitharaman said.

The measures signal a push to anchor global cloud investments in India while tying incentives to domestic infrastructure creation and employment.