Karnataka has 32 private data centers, 31 of them in Bengaluru, and the state now wants new ones built away from the city's strained water supply. On September 18, 2026, the cabinet, meeting in Mangaluru under Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, approved a Sustainable Data Centre Policy for 2026-2031 that aims for 1 gigawatt of data center capacity by 2031 and will track each center's power and water efficiency. Its first phase is choosing the zones and parks where data centers will go.
In the Assembly in March, IT Minister Priyank Kharge called data centers "a necessary evil" and "heavy water and energy guzzlers," saying each megawatt of capacity needs about 25 million liters of water a year. "Hyperscale data centres won't suit Bengaluru, which doesn't have a port and faces shortage of water," he said. He was answering Doddaballapur BJP legislator Dheeraj Muniraj, who said companies were leaving Bengaluru for lack of data center parks and wanted them in the KWIN City project near Doddaballapur, where 6,000 acres are being acquired.
In April The News Minute found the state had not systematically measured how much water its data centers draw. The state's April plan named sites: a proposed 500-megawatt park near Hoskote, powered by solar from Pavagada and supplied with 60 million liters a day of treated wastewater, and about 350 acres in Mangaluru's Baikampady Industrial Area. Economist R S Deshpande has questioned whether the state has the staff to carry out the policy, pointing to competing demands for power and water in districts such as Tumakuru.
Projects not tied to an area
Sites whose records name no county. Everything else is on the pages listed above.
Karnataka2
| Project | Company | Status | Power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Mountain Bengaluru (BLR-1) | Iron Mountain Data Centers | 4.1 MW | Source off site ↗ | |
| NTT Bengaluru (DC2/DC3) | NTT Global Data Centers | Not reported | Source off site ↗ |
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Every project above is drawn from public records, filings and local reporting. Each row links to what it is based on. Statuses change, so check the source date before you rely on one. Found something wrong? Write to [email protected] and it gets fixed.