Gujarat’s data centre policy has drawn expressions of interest for about 17 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, more than twice the 7.5 GW the state set out to approve. Science and Technology Minister Arjun Modhwadia told the Assembly during its monsoon session that 17 parties had come forward with 19 projects, IANS reported. If every proposal were built, investment would cross Rs 17 lakh crore, he said, according to IANS and DeshGujarat.
How the number grew
Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel launched the Viksit Gujarat Data Centre Policy 2026-29 at Mahatma Mandir on 9 July. At the launch the state said about 14 companies had submitted proposals and it expected more than Rs 6 lakh crore in the first phase, Outlook Business reported. We covered the policy’s incentives and its green-power and desalination conditions at the time.
Two months on, both the list of applicants and the size of their plans have grown. A project must carry at least 150 MW of IT load to qualify for the incentives, according to IANS and Outlook Business. The 19 projects on file average close to 900 MW each.
Modhwadia put India’s current data centre capacity at 1.5 GW. Outlook Business, in its July report, cited a figure of about 2 GW. On either estimate, the proposals Gujarat holds add up to several times what the whole country runs today.
More interest than the state plans to approve
The state planned to clear 7.5 GW in the first phase and decide on more later, depending on need and available capacity. With 17 GW on the table, officials will have to choose. The policy offers projects in Dholera an extra 2.5% capital subsidy on top of the general package, as both DeshGujarat and Outlook Business report, which suggests the state wants much of the first phase built there.
An expression of interest is also a long way from a finished campus. Each applicant still has to acquire land, secure a grid connection, source 51% of its power from renewables and build a captive desalination plant for cooling water. Dholera has been promoted as a manufacturing and semiconductor hub for years, and Vibes of India has asked whether it has the water to support the data centre plan.
Why Porbandar and Surat are on the map
Data centres tend to follow the points where undersea internet cables come ashore. Modhwadia said Gujarat plans cable landing stations at Diu or Chorwad, at Porbandar and at Surat, according to IANS and DeshGujarat. A landing point on the Saurashtra coast would give Porbandar and Junagadh district a place in the digital economy that neither has had so far.
Those are also some of the driest parts of the state this year. By early September, Saurashtra and Kutch had received about a third less rain than normal this monsoon, as we reported. The policy requires data centres to build their own desalination plants, with state support of up to Rs 2 crore per million litres a day of capacity, according to Outlook Business. That rule will matter most in districts where farmers and towns already compete for Narmada and SAUNI water.
What it means for Gujarat residents
Modhwadia’s reported remarks gave no jobs estimate for the 17 GW. For towns near a chosen site, the visible effects will come through land prices, new transmission lines and desalination plants on the coast. Villages around Dholera, and Porbandar if a landing station goes ahead, will want to know early where that infrastructure is routed and whose land it crosses.
What to watch
The state has not named the 17 parties or said when it will announce which projects make the first 7.5 GW. The next markers are that shortlist, land allotments in Dholera, and tenders for the cable landing stations. The Vibrant Gujarat summit in January is one occasion where investors could put names to the proposals.
Sources: IANS via Punjab Kesari, DeshGujarat, Outlook Business, Vibes of India
This report was written with AI assistance from the publicly reported sources linked here; each fact was cross-checked against at least two of them.