India needs sustainable data infrastructure for AI at scale

By Ramanujam Komanduri

The scale of today’s environmental challenges demands continuous action. Each day, individuals and institutions are called to confront the impact of their choices and commit to safeguarding the planet’s precious lives and resources. Take the digital domain, for instance. India’s digital economy is growing strongly and, with over 850 million internet users, the country is already one of the world’s largest digital markets.

The build-out of this fast-expanding digital ecosystem entails, among other things, the establishment of a large and growing number of data centres. And while this is inevitable, it is equally important to keep a watchful eye on the impact of data centres on energy consumption, e-waste generation, and plastic pollution.

Data centres consume a significant amount of electricity, accounting for approximately 0.5% of India’s total electricity usage at present, and are expected to increase to around 3% by 2030. This growth will be driven by multiple factors, including the rapid digitalisation of businesses, the localisation of data as per regulatory requirements, and the adoption of AI across sectors. The data centre market in India is expanding rapidly, underscoring the need to enhance energy efficiency and adopt new, sustainable technologies to replace outdated, resource-intensive ones.

Why Energy Efficiency in Storage Matters

Storage infrastructure accounts for almost a fifth of a data centre’s total power consumption. A significant percentage of data storage systems today utilise spinning magnetic storage (hard disk drives), which are not energy-efficient. Additionally, they require more space and are less reliable, necessitating frequent maintenance and replacements. Flash storage offers much better energy efficiency, performance, reliability, and longer life compared to mechanical disks, consuming 85% less energy and 77% less space.

India is already among the top producers of e-waste globally. According to government data, the amount of e-waste generated in India increased from 1.01 MT in the year 2019-20 to 1.751 MT in 2023-24. A study published last year suggested that, globally, generative AI alone could contribute an additional 1.2 to 5 MT of e-waste every year. Data centres contribute to this e-waste in the form of outdated hardware like servers, storage systems, GPUs, and networking equipment.

Legacy storage systems, for example, often require complete replacements every three to five years, resulting in unnecessary e-waste. Modern flash-based storage architectures, on the other hand, boast features such as modular upgrades, which extend the life of the hardware. These architectures, by design, significantly minimise e-waste and energy consumption while enhancing performance and sustainability. Additionally, adopting flexible consumption models governed by guaranteed service-level agreements (SLAs) allows organisations to scale storage resources on demand, paying only for what they use. Such models often include commitments like zero planned downtime, energy efficiency guarantees, and proactive capacity management, ensuring both operational agility and sustainability.

Due attention must also be given to the plastic waste from components such as server racks, computing equipment, monitors, circuit boards, storage systems, and packaging materials. Worryingly, in India, over 40% of plastic waste remains uncollected. To reduce plastic waste, we must not only adopt sustainable packaging and smarter product design but also reconsider the hardware and equipment we rely on.

Making Sustainability a Priority for Indian Enterprises

Sustainability is no longer just a “nice to have” for business—it is a strategic priority that, when implemented correctly, delivers a positive impact across the board. Foremost among these is regulatory compliance. India’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) framework and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act require enterprises to adopt responsible practices in various aspects of their business, including data storage and management.

Similarly, the Draft Data Centre Policy 2020 promotes green and energy-efficient data centres, as well as energy efficiency standards. The Bureau of Energy Efficiency, meanwhile, aims to bring data centres under the ambit of energy conservation programmes.

Investors and consumers, on the other hand, are showing a marked preference for companies that have not only announced clear, quantifiable sustainability goals but also established robust and transparent mechanisms for measuring and monitoring progress towards them. Enterprises that demonstrate a strong commitment to minimising environmental impact thus stand to gain a significant competitive advantage in the market.

Progress across sustainability, energy efficiency, market positioning, and stakeholder trust can be accelerated by adopting smarter data management practices and leveraging energy-efficient technologies. Coupled with intelligent workload placement, these steps enable enterprises to reduce their environmental footprint without compromising innovation.

As the technology world advances, addressing environmental challenges will necessitate collective action from policymakers, industry leaders, and technology innovators. It is time to rethink how we design, deploy, and dispose of technology—and build a digital economy that is advanced, resilient, and sustainable.

The author is the Country Manager of Pure Storage India.