India’s Data Centre Boom | The MEP Support Opportunity
India’s data centre boom is one of the biggest MEP support opportunities in the country right now, because every new facility needs vast amounts of cable tray support, cooling-pipe hangers, and containment framing. India had about 1.64 GW of data centre capacity by June 2026, and the market could grow to 6 GW by 2029. Around 4,317 MW was under construction, while the planned pipeline stood at around 15,000 MW. Each of those megawatts is a building packed with overhead cabling and cooling that has to be supported on strut channel, trapezes, and clamps. For MEP contractors, integrators, and support-system suppliers, that pipeline is years of steady demand. Ashish International, with 25+ years manufacturing MEP supports, produces the data centre channel and fittings these projects run on, and this guide explains the opportunity and what it means for support supply. Why India’s Data Centre Market Is Surging Several forces are driving this build-out at once, and together they make the growth unusually durable. The main drivers: AI workloads: training and running AI models needs dense, high-power computing, pushing far larger facilities. Data localisation: rules requiring Indian data to be stored in India keep demand at home. Cloud and digital growth: streaming, payments, and enterprise cloud keep rising. Hyperscaler investment: global operators are committing heavily; investment commitments toward data centres stood at around $38 billion in H1 2026. Subsea connectivity and power: new cable landings and state incentives make India attractive. AI is the force changing the scale most, because India is moving from facilities measured in tens of megawatts towards campuses capable of supporting hundreds of megawatts or even gigawatts. These drivers reinforcing each other are why the boom is expected to run for years, not months. The Numbers Behind the Boom The scale is clearest in the capacity figures from leading industry reports. The table below sets out where the market stands and where it is headed. Metric Figure Source Operational capacity, H1 2026 ~1.64 GW JLL Under construction ~4,317 MW JLL Planned pipeline ~15,000 MW JLL Investment commitments, H1 2026 ~$38 billion CBRE Possible capacity by 2030–31 up to ~8–9.6 GW Jefferies Jefferies estimates India’s colocation data centre capacity could rise from about 2.1 GW in 2026 to nearly 9.6 GW by 2031, roughly a fivefold increase. Even the more conservative forecasts show large, sustained growth. Whatever the exact figure, the direction is one way, and every gigawatt added means more support systems to build. Which Cities Are Leading — and Why It Matters The growth is geographically concentrated, which tells support suppliers where the work is. Capacity growth is concentrated in Mumbai, Noida, Hyderabad and Chennai, supported by access to stable power, submarine cable landing points, and active state-level incentive frameworks. Mumbai leads by a wide margin, with growth spreading into Navi Mumbai and the Thane–Belapur corridor as operators seek larger land parcels and power. Chennai and Hyderabad are strong secondary hubs, helped by subsea cable landings and campus-scale projects. For an MEP support supplier, this concentration is useful: it means demand clusters in a few regions, making it easier to serve large, repeat data centre projects. Knowing where the capacity is being built is the first step to positioning for the work. What the Boom Means for MEP Support Supply Every data centre is a support-heavy building, so this pipeline translates directly into demand for channel, hangers, and fittings. A hyperscale hall packs thousands of cables overhead, all carried on strut-channel trapezes and cantilever arms; heavy chilled-water cooling runs on pipe clamps and hangers; and power busway needs robust strut channel framing. Because these facilities are built in phases and to repeatable designs, they need a support supplier who can hold one standard across thousands of identical runs and keep supplying as each phase comes online. That favours manufacturers with real capacity and consistency, and it is exactly the demand our data centre MEP fittings and back-to-back channel are built to meet. The scale of the boom rewards suppliers who can deliver consistent volume, not just samples. How Support Suppliers Can Position for the Work For contractors, integrators, and suppliers wanting a share of this pipeline, a few moves make the difference: Standardise the range: offer one compatible support system so thousands of runs stay consistent. Prove volume capacity: data centres need supply that keeps pace with phased construction. Get the finishes right: clean powder-coated or stainless finishes suit server halls. Back it with data: hyperscale specifiers want documented load and dimensional consistency. Serve the key regions: align supply with the Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad clusters. Volume capacity is the deciding factor, because a supplier who cannot keep pace with a phased build will be replaced by one who can. Position on standardisation, finish, and proven capacity, and a support business can ride the boom rather than watch it. Ready for Data Centre Demand at Scale A boom this size rewards suppliers who can already produce at volume with consistency, not those still scaling up. Ashish International brings that capacity today: 25+ years across three units and 60,000 square feet, turning out 350 tonnes of MEP support a month under in-house quality control, so a data centre’s thousands of identical supports match from first run to last. Integrators, MEP contractors, stockists, and sourcing companies serving India’s and the world’s data centre projects, across the UK, Europe, the Middle-East, Australia, and Africa, work with us for that repeatability, and several have partnered with us for over 20 years, some under NDA for their own designs. We manufacture to the standards global and hyperscale specifiers expect, and for brands and MNCs we run the full range as white-label, your spec, your finish, your branding, with FITSTRUTS® where a stock line fits. For data centre support supply, load data, or a white-label discussion, call +91-99888-54380 or email ashishint2001@gmail.com. 1. Why is India’s data centre boom an opportunity for MEP support suppliers? Every new data centre is a building packed with overhead cabling and cooling that must be supported
