Piyush Goyal highlights India’s clean energy, talent pool to woo data centre investment

India offers lowcost clean energy a nationwide power grid inexpensive data and a vast technology talent pool that make it an attractive destination for global data centres Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has told IndianAmericans in ChicagoAddressing a community gathering organised by the US Indian Community Foundation Goyal made a strong pitch for US companies and IndianAmerican entrepreneurs to invest in India particularly in emerging technology and data infrastructureThe event came after Goyal attended the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in Milwaukee and held a series of engagements with American businesses and investorsAmongst the trusted world countries where you feel safe with your data where you feel safe to invest in the current geopolitical context India is the worlds best location to house data centres Goyal saidHe said Indias power infrastructure had undergone a significant transformation since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014India earlier had several regional grids with different parts of the country facing varying levels of electricity shortages and surpluses he said The government connected the grids to strengthen reliability and support the expansion of renewable energySo today after China we have the largest grid in the world Goyal saidIndia has a national grid 520 gigawatts in one connected grid And in another 6 or 7 years this will become 1000 gigawatts he saidGoyal said clean energy already accounts for 60 per cent of the installed capacity of the 520gigawatt grid including solar wind hydro and nuclear powerBy 2033 when we are 1000 gigawatts 70 per cent of this installed capacity will be clean energy he saidThe minister said the size and interconnected nature of the grid were particularly important for data centres because they require multiple levels of power redundancyWe can offer clean energy or renewable energy round the clock at the lowest price anywhere in the world Goyal saidHe said companies could currently secure 80 per cent guaranteed clean energy around the clock at seven to eight cents while 100 per cent clean energy could cost about 11 or 12 centsNowhere in the world can you get this level of redundancy and clean energy together at these data points he saidGoyal also pointed to Indias low data and infrastructure costsThe cost of data in India is amongst the lowest in the world possibly the lowest in the world he said adding that it could be around five to eight per cent of what users pay in the United States per gigabyteHe told the gathering that creating datacentre infrastructure in India could cost between onefourth and onefifth of what it would cost in the United States or EuropeGoyal also highlighted Indias pool of young technical talent saying that about 14 million students graduate annually in science technology engineering and mathematicsEarlier the minister made a broader appeal to IndianAmericans to participate in Indias economic expansion through investment technology knowledgesharing and entrepreneurshipThe United States of America has capital strength technology strength India has ambition he saidThe IndiaUS partnership will continue to grow will continue to prosper will continue to provide opportunities to all of you Goyal saidYou are all the ambassadors of India you are the living bridge between India and the United States of America he addedGoyal travelled to Chicago after participating in the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in Milwaukee where ministers discussed global trade challenges the future of the World Trade Organisation and concerns over goods produced through forced labour and statesupported excess production capacityDuring his Chicago visit Goyal also met US businesses and investors He said he interacted with companies of different sizes through business groups and held several oneonone meetings with large investorsHe also said India planned to bring a large multisectoral business delegation to the region possibly in the first quarter of next yearThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever