New Delhi, Oct. 19 -- India has emerged as a cornerstone of Hitachi Energy's strategy to de-risk its global supply chain, as the company looks to diversify sourcing amid geopolitical conflicts and trade tensions, chief executive officer (CEO) Andreas Schierenbeck said.

Schierenbeck said rising demand from data centres and the shift from oil and gas to electricity across industries have intensified industrial power needs in recent years, creating a mismatch between supply and demand. He cautioned that while data centres can be built in 1-3 years, planning and setting up the power generation and transmission capacity to serve them can take around 10 years.

He added that meeting demand for power equipment requires long-term framework agree...