New Delhi, March 11
India's data centre industry is expected to witness rapid expansion over the next decade, with the market projected to grow from $5.55 billion in 2025 to $13.11 billion by 2034, according to a report released on Wednesday.
The workforce required to support the country's expanding digital infrastructure and highlights a growing gap between infrastructure investment and the availability of specialised talent, according to the report by Quess Corp.
The sector is projected to expand by about 136 per cent over the period, supported by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 per cent between 2026 and 2034, it said.
India's data centre and cloud infrastructure ecosystem currently employs around 86,000-90,000 professionals across more than 50 providers.
However, the study noted that the biggest constraint for the industry's next phase of growth is shifting from capital and power availability to a shortage of a specialised, "skill-ready" workforce.
Meanwhile, as the sector moves into a hyperscale phase with large gigawatt-scale campuses, the report warns of an emerging "infrastructure-talent mismatch".
The report also stated that the Supply Sufficiency Index (SSI) for AI Operations currently stands at a low of 47. This suggests a critical shortage in the talent needed to manage the next generation of data infrastructure, it said.
Kapil Joshi , CEO of IT Staffing, Quess Corp said that India is at a structural inflection point where infrastructure expansion must be matched with deeper technical capabilities.
"While reaching a $13 billion valuation is a testament to India's digital intensity, the resilience of this infrastructure depends on our ability to bridge the skill gap," Joshi said.
The report also highlighted the rapid rise of artificial intelligence workloads, which are projected to account for nearly 30 per cent of total data centre capacity by 2026.
This shift is expected to drive a 133 per cent increase in demand for specialised skill clusters such as cloud and DevOps as well as security and compliance by 2029.
At the same time, IT operations faces a 73 per cent shortage in key operational roles including infrastructure monitoring, incident response and network management.
Sector-wise, the IT and telecom industry accounts for about 48 per cent of demand for data centre capacity, followed by the BFSI sector at 20 per cent and government workloads at around 10 per cent, the report said.
- IANS
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