NITI Aayog Unveils Data Centre Evaluation Framework
NITI Aayog · Economy · Posted 15 OCT 2026 3:55PM
What happened
NITI Aayog's Frontier Tech Hub released the Data Centre Evaluation Framework on 14 October 2026 to help States transition from attracting data-centre investments to building investment-ready, sustainable infrastructure. India's data-centre capacity has grown from about 375 MW in 2020 to approximately 1.5 GW currently.
Why it matters for UPSC
This initiative illustrates cooperative federalism and infrastructure planning in the context of emerging technologies, which is vital for sustainable economic growth and resource management under the UPSC syllabus.
Key objectives
- Provide State governments with a decision-support tool to assess infrastructure readiness, resource requirements, and economic benefits before committing support to data-centre projects.
- Focus on five key pillars: Power and Energy, Water and Cooling, Siting and Environmental Sustainability, Economic and Strategic Value, and Policy, Governance and Implementation.
- Promote renewable energy, storage-backed power, rainwater harvesting, lifecycle plans for waste, and 'Make in India' across IT and non-IT infrastructure.