India, Aug. 10 -- India's ambition to become an artificial intelligence (AI) powerhouse is beginning to face the kind of local resistance that has slowed data centre projects in parts of Europe and North America. In Thane and Visakhapatnam, residents have launched what are among the country's first organised protests against large data centres, arguing that the projects could put additional pressure on land, electricity and water.

The protests come as the Centre encourages investment in digital infrastructure. At the AI Impact Summit in February, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged global technology companies to let their data "reside in India", pitching the country as a hub for AI infrastructure. Data centres were granted infrastructure ...