The data centre ecosystem appears poised to deliver significant job creation in the coming years. | Photo Credit: iStockphoto

The data centre ecosystem appears poised to deliver significant job creation in the coming years, despite concerns raised on the ground over employment projections, according to hiring platforms and industry executives.

At a time when Global Capability Centres (GCCs) have cooled their hiring spree and shifted towards a hybrid operating model, data centres are expected to ramp up recruitment across blue, grey, and white-collar roles.

“The data centre industry is becoming a meaningful employment engine in India, but there is an important distinction between jobs within data centres and those created across the broader ecosystem. Employment needs are not limited to IT professionals. The sector also requires talent in construction, equipment maintenance, power, cooling, telecom and fibre networks, security, facility management, logistics, and specialised contracting,” said Ganesh S. Padmanabhan, Vice-President, Recruitment Business, CIEL HR. He estimates the sector could generate 1-2 lakh employment opportunities over the next four to six years.

Moreover, if India’s planned 9,030 MW data centre pipeline becomes operational by 2030, it could create around 4.33 lakh ecosystem jobs, or roughly 85,000 jobs annually, according to Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital. The talent solutions provider estimates that 1-1.15 lakh people were employed in the sector as of September 2026, with software-related roles accounting for nearly 30 per cent of job postings in FY26. These are followed by engineering, management, sales, and project management positions.

Going forward, hiring trends are expected to mirror the industry’s transition from conventional cloud infrastructure to AI factories, according to ESDS Software Solutions. The company expects strong demand for MEP and critical facility engineers, liquid-cooling and thermal specialists, AI platform and MLOps engineers, cybersecurity and compliance professionals, as well as project and construction managers. CIEL HR reported more than 7,400 data centre-related job openings in India between October 2025 and September 2026, representing a 14 per cent increase over the previous 12-month period.

“We expect the data centre and AI infrastructure workforce to grow by about 50 per cent over the next 12 months, driven by new capacity coming online. Every megawatt of AI capacity creates significantly more skilled, well-paying jobs than conventional hosting infrastructure, and much of this growth is taking place outside metro cities,” said Piyush Somani, Managing Director and Chairman of ESDS. He also highlighted the growing importance of Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

Recently, the Maharashtra government announced investments worth ₹8.57 lakh crore, which are expected to generate nearly 81,000 data centre-related jobs. This is in addition to the 81,000 jobs projected by Amazon for its Balkum data centre and the 5,000-6,000 direct jobs, along with 20,000-30,000 indirect jobs, projected by Google for its Vizag facility.

However, the pace of job creation will ultimately depend on the execution and commissioning of these projects. Some local residents have already questioned the employment projections being cited. In Vizag, for instance, protesters pointed out that media reports had mentioned the creation of 1.8 lakh jobs, while Google’s environmental impact assessment report reportedly indicated only 1,200 jobs. Analysts who previously spoke to businessline noted that greater transparency and more detailed disclosure on projected employment generation could help address such concerns and reduce friction between stakeholders.

Published on October 4, 2026