India's cloud landscape grows with Microsoft's latest data centre

Microsoft has expanded India’s cloud ecosystem with the commissioning of its fourth hyperscale data‑centre, situated in Hyderabad and branded as "India South Central." The region integrates with the company's established sites in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai, delivering greater redundancy and capacity for cloud customers.

The rollout is a key component of a $20.5 billion investment programme that seeks to deepen cloud and AI capabilities, foster skill development, and broaden operational footprint throughout India.

During the launch, Microsoft’s India and South Asia President Punit Chandok emphasized that India creates about one‑fifth of the world’s data, yet only houses roughly three percent of the global data‑centre capacity. He framed this mismatch as the nation’s biggest opportunity of the decade.

At present, India’s data‑centre capacity is estimated at 2 GW. Projections indicate that by 2035 this could expand to 12‑14 GW, reflecting the rising appetite of enterprises, government agencies and academic institutions for AI‑driven solutions.

Chandok warned that the challenge now lies in provisioning sufficient infrastructure to meet future AI workloads, calling the scale‑up a top national priority.