India's data-centre build-out, told through its grid.

Mumbai accounts for roughly 40% of India's installed data-centre capacity today, but nearly every hyperscaler and colocation operator interviewed for this review qualified that figure: Mumbai is a legacy position, not a growth thesis. Power procurement costs have risen faster than any other top-five market in Asia-Pacific. Hosting headroom at the city's principal 220 kV and 110 kV grid entry points — Kharghar, Turbhe, and the MIDC industrial estates of Thane and Navi Mumbai — is substantially consumed.

Chennai's story is the inverse. Tamil Nadu expanded transmission capacity into the Old Mahabalipuram Road and Ambattur corridors during 2023–24, and three 400/220 kV substations in Thirumazhisai and Mappedu were charged ahead of schedule. Those substations can absorb an estimated 400–600 MW of new data-centre load before the next investment cycle is required. That figure is not theoretical: hyperscaler site-selection teams are active in the corridor, and Chennai accounts for a disproportionate share of the announced MW pipeline shown in Exhibit 2.3.