India's AI Ambition Has a Hidden Price Tag. Are We Looking at It?
A few months ago, most people weren't talking about data centres. Today, they are at the centre of India's AI ambitions. Google is partnering with Adani to build what is being described as India's largest data centre campus in Visakhapatnam. Andhra Pradesh is preparing power infrastructure capable of supporting more than 15 GW of data centre demand. Haryana has signed a ₹20,000 crore agreement with Anant Raj to expand data centre infrastructure. On paper, this looks like progress. Billions in investment. New digital infrastructure. More cloud computing capacity. A stronger AI ecosystem. The story sounds simple. But the deeper you look, the more complicated it becomes. Because while India is racing to build the infrastructure needed for the AI age, a question is quietly emerging in the background: What exactly will it cost us? The scale of what is being planned is enormous. The Visakhapatnam region alone has attracted proposals from major players including Google, Reliance, ...