Where are India’s Data Centres Being Built?

Mumbai remains India’s data-centre capital with over half the operational capacity. However, the fastest hiring is in Chennai, Hyderabad, NCR and Pune.

Mumbai keeps adding megawatts due to subsea cable landings and a mature grid. But land limits are shifting hyperscale campuses, and the engineers who build them, to the four challenger cities.

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Key Takeaways

• Capacity >1,700 MW in 2025. ~30% growth (~500 MW) in 2026.
• Mumbai >50% live capacity. It will take 47% of new supply in the next five years.
• Tier‑I concentration (Mumbai, Chennai, NCR, Bengaluru) ~90% but loosening.
• Chennai – 268 MW live, 153 MW building; three subsea cables by 2026–27.
• Pune vacancy 2.0%. This is the tightest market.
• Hyderabad fastest‑growing hub, aided by duty exemption and talent pool.
• NCR expanding. Yotta Greater Noida ~250 MW across six buildings.
• Highest hiring – facility engineering, NOC, commissioning, DCIM/BMS; entry ₹3 LPA to ₹4 LPA, senior ₹15 LPA to ₹20 LPA+.

The India Data Centre Map: Capacity at a Glance

Note:

Figures reflect capacity reported by Avendus Capital and CBRE through mid-2026; treat as indicative and check the latest quarterly report before citing externally.

Mumbai: Still the capital, Now Land-Constrained

Mumbai’s dominance comes from its subsea cable landings and reliable power grid, keeping it at over 50% of India’s operational capacity.

Large campuses come from Yotta (Navi Mumbai’s 50-acre Panvel park), STT GDC, Sify, AdaniConneX and CtrlS, with L&T Vyoma the newest entrant. Its 40 MW AI-ready facility at Mahape was announced in January 2026, part of a roadmap covering Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

With land scarce in Mumbai proper, hiring is concentrated in the Navi Mumbai–Panvel corridor, led by demand for facility engineers (electrical/UPS/BESS), NOC/network engineers and commissioning engineers for new AI-ready capacity.

Chennai: The Subsea Gateway Scaling Fastest after Mumbai

Chennai is India’s clear number two, with 268 MW of capacity, a 12.4% vacancy rate and 153 MW under construction, plus 273 MW planned.

As India’s gateway to Southeast Asia, it is set to gain three more international subsea cables by 2026–27. This deepens its pull for hyperscaler and CDN workloads. NTT, CtrlS, STT GDC and Sify run large campuses here, with Yotta also expanding in.

Hiring skews toward facility technicians for power and cooling, network/fiber engineers, and fire-safety technicians. It is a sign of how many campuses are being commissioned at once.

Hyderabad: The Fastest-Growing Challenger

Hyderabad’s pitch to operators is simple: cheaper land, a 10-year electricity duty exemption, and one of India’s deepest cloud and GCC talent pools.

Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Apple, Deloitte and Wells Fargo all run large operations here, and that ecosystem is now spilling into data centre hiring, especially roles blending facility operations with cloud skills.

CtrlS, Sify and CapitaLand are among the operators building capacity, alongside hyperscaler self-builds.

With 138 MW installed and a 9.7% vacancy rate, Hyderabad is smaller than Mumbai or Chennai today, but reports flag it as a top-three destination for incremental capacity through 2030.

Watch for cloud-integrated engineers, SOC analysts, and hybrid on-prem/cloud commissioning engineers.

NCR: Scaling through Land, not Legacy

NCR’s story is being written in Noida and Greater Noida, where capital subsidies and land rebates draw hyperscale campuses that would be harder to build in Mumbai.

Yotta’s Greater Noida park is the clearest example. Its first building (Yotta D1) is already live with 28.8 MW, with the full six-building park designed to scale toward 250 MW. NTT has also launched a new Noida campus with seismic dampers, and AdaniConneX and Web Werks maintain a regional presence.

NCR’s total capacity stands at 161 MW with a 10.2% vacancy rate. Hiring leans toward project managers, network/fiber operations engineers, and facility engineers for edge and micro data centres serving BFSI clients.

Pune: smaller footprint, tightest demand

Pune lacks Mumbai’s scale, but at just 2.0% vacancy, it has the tightest occupancy of any major Indian market. The capacity is being absorbed faster than it’s replaced.

Web Werks and the government-run National Informatics Centre operate here, within L&T Vyoma’s broader western-India corridor.

Pune’s real strength is its engineering talent base. Firms like ThoughtWorks and Persistent, plus several global capability centres, feed a steady pipeline for electrical, DevOps and BMS-adjacent roles.

Employers like Johnson Controls have posted active BMS and hardware-design openings in Pune through mid-2026, a sign commissioning-stage hiring is picking up alongside new construction.

Which City Fits Which Career Path

Core electrical and facility engineering:

Mumbai, Chennai – largest, most mature campuses with the deepest bench of senior roles.

Cloud-and-security crossover roles:

Hyderabad – hyperscaler self-builds plus a GCC ecosystem that rewards hybrid skills.

Project management and enterprise-facing roles:

NCR – large corporate and BFSI demand.

Engineering-heavy operations and commissioning:

Pune – tight vacancy plus a strong technical talent pool.

Roles, Experience and Pay Ranges

Note:

Salary bands from Glassdoor and PayScale India, mid-2026; actual offers vary by employer, city and certification.

How to Prepare for a Data Centre Role

• Build the fundamentals:

HT/LT electrical distribution, UPS/BESS systems, and CRAC/HVAC basics are non-negotiable for any facility-side role.

• Add one certification track:

CCNA for networking roles, or a foundational AWS/Azure certificate for Hyderabad’s cloud-integrated openings.

• Learn DCIM and BMS tools:

Even entry-level roles now expect familiarity with monitoring and building-management software.

• Be shift-flexible:

Data centres run 24/7, and recruiters rank shift readiness alongside technical skill.

• Target the right city:

Use the career-path breakdown above rather than applying broadly.

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Conclusion

India’s data centre buildout isn’t slowing down, it is spreading out. Mumbai will likely keep its capacity crown for years given its subsea cable advantage.

But the real hiring momentum sits in Chennai’s fast-scaling campuses, Hyderabad’s cloud-talent convergence, NCR’s land-driven expansion, and Pune’s tightly occupied market.

For jobseekers, that’s good news: instead of one saturated hub, there are five entry points, each rewarding a different skill mix.

Track the operators active in your target city, match certifications to the roles they are posting, and you are well positioned in one of India’s fastest-growing infrastructure sectors.