New Delhi, July 13 -- India's competition to attract data centre investments is moving beyond traditional incentives such as land and tax benefits, with states increasingly focusing on power tariffs, renewable energy access, water availability and grid connectivity.

The shift comes as demand from artificial intelligence, cloud computing and hyperscale infrastructure drives the next phase of growth in the sector.

Installed data centre capacity in the country is projected to rise from around 2.5 GW at present to between 8.5 GW and 9.5 GW by 2030, while demand could reach 7-8 GW. The sector is expected to account for up to 8 per cent of incremental peak electricity demand, making reliable power supply and efficient cooling systems central ...