India’s digital infrastructure is expanding at a pace unmatched in its history. The surge in data generation, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing has created a powerful demand for data centres, the vast facilities that host the servers powering everything from banking to streaming. With billions of dollars flowing in from global tech companies and domestic investors, the country is poised to become one of the world’s largest data centre hubs within this decade. Yet, this success story conceals a mounting environmental dilemma that demands urgent national attention.

Data centres are the invisible engines of the digital economy, but their operation comes at a heavy ecological cost. These facilities require immense quantities of water for cooling their constantly running servers and consume vast amounts of electricity to remain operational. In a country that supports nearly a fifth of the world’s population........

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