NITI Aayog Unveils Data Centre Evaluation Framework for States

The Frontier Tech Hub of NITI Aayog has brought out the Data Centre Evaluation Framework, a planning tool for State governments weighing data-centre proposals. The document was released on 14 October 2026 and announced the next day. Its purpose is to move States from merely attracting data-centre money to becoming genuinely ready for it, so that power, water and land can carry such projects for years.

Who released it

The release took place in the presence of Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Member, NITI Aayog, Shri Anurag Jain, Chief Executive Officer, NITI Aayog, and Ms Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, along with officials of the Ministry of Power, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, besides industry representatives. Those same ministries and the industry gave inputs while the framework was being drafted.

How fast the sector has grown

India's data-centre capacity has climbed from roughly 375 MW in 2020 to about 1.5 GW today, pulled up by artificial intelligence, cloud computing, high-performance computing and applications that feed on data. The government has also allowed a tax holiday until 2047 for eligible foreign cloud service providers that use data-centre infrastructure based in India.

The five pillars

• Power and Energy
• Water and Cooling
• Siting and Environmental Sustainability
• Economic and Strategic Value
• Policy, Governance and Implementation

What it asks States to check

On resources, the framework wants States to measure grid readiness and net grid draw, to favour renewable energy backed by storage, and to study water stress at the level of the river basin along with the effect on public supply. It also presses for rainwater harvesting, treatment and storage of water on site, and lifecycle plans for electronic waste, batteries and other hazardous waste.

Getting value from the investment

To raise economic returns, States are advised to mark out suitable data-centre zones, to separate colocation from active compute services, to tie State incentives to measurable results and to carry Make in India across both IT and non-IT equipment, with time-bound approvals and monitoring of promises made. Mr Jain said States must judge infrastructure, resource needs and economic benefit before they commit support, and that the framework does this without adding a fresh layer of regulation.