Jointly produced by NITI Aayog and Deloitte India, the assessment framework ties data centre approvals to confirmed access to power, water, and supporting infrastructure, while also directing state governments to weigh each project's economic returns against the public resources it draws upon. Released on Wednesday, 14 October 2026, the document arrives as India's data centre sector has been undergoing considerable growth.

A February 2026 report from the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) put the total number of data centres operating across India at 271 at the start of that year. Figures released by the Union government put the combined power capacity of those data centres at roughly 1.57 gigawatts as of August 2026. Forecasts drawn from sector-wide data place that installed capacity somewhere in the range of 4.5 to 6.5 gigawatts by 2030.

Around 13 terawatt-hours of electricity flowed through data centre operations across India during 2024, a volume that represented roughly eight-tenths of one percent of the country's overall power draw. By 2030, the CEEW estimates that figure will climb to around 57 TWh — roughly five times current levels and equivalent to approximately 2.6 percent of overall demand.

Across the country, individual states are positioning themselves to draw in outside investment. Two states — Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu — hold a clear position at the front of the pack, while Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have each put forward targets around investment and capacity expansion. Plans are underway in Andhra Pradesh to position Visakhapatnam as a hub for artificial intelligence infrastructure. Three other states — Odisha, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh — have been working to attract investment in data centre infrastructure.

Pushback from nearby communities has mounted over the land, power, and water demands tied to the rollout of new data centre facilities. Residents of Thane, in Maharashtra, gathered in public to push back against a proposed Amazon data centre, raising concerns about the facility's demands on communal infrastructure and its proximity to homes, schools, and healthcare sites. Concerns over water use and broader environmental effects have been directed at Google's proposed data centre project — a $15-billion undertaking planned for the fringes of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh.

Processor chip counts inside large language models — the headline offerings of AI developers — have climbed at pace, and the cumulative energy draw of those chips, alongside the substantial volumes of freshwater their cooling systems consume, has grown alongside them.

Under the NITI framework, rather than evaluating developments one at a time, planning would encompass full campuses and connected infrastructure corridors as unified units. Under the framework, individual states would be required to draw up long-range water availability forecasts spanning two to three decades on a seasonal basis, safeguard the rights of those already drawing on water supplies, and place the financial burden of any grid infrastructure built solely for a given development on the developer behind that project.

Competing for major projects requires states to present a net economic case — one that factors in land grants, infrastructure outlays, utility arrangements, and any additional public support already committed. According to the document, performance-based rewards could be structured around verifiable targets spanning jobs created, uptake of renewable power, operational efficiency, and sourcing from nearby suppliers.

Environmental protections, exposure to climate-related risks, and governance standards all fall within the scope of a framework built around five distinct pillars. Under the framework put forward, a centralised auditing body would operate with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology serving as the designated lead ministry.

No clarity is offered in the document about whether the framework has been formally taken up or whether its directives carry binding force over states.