Outlining strategies Telangana government is pursuing to attract more data centres, a senior official in the Industries Department on Thursday urged the prospective investors to refrain from incentive shopping and instead consider the inherent benefits of investing in the State.

“Yes, we would be giving incentives. But we know our strengths... know why you are coming here. So if you keep your expectations little lower, we’ll also be happy to extend our small, whatever [incentive] we can within limited resources. It will help the economy grow and local economy flourish,” Commissioner/Director of Industries Nikhil Chakravarthi J said.

“That [line of] negotiation will really help move ahead fast. It will help in putting more resources into infrastructure creation, which in turn will help the industry,” he said, addressing a conference on data centres organised by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) here. He assured the government will provide quality infrastructure, power and water, cooling systems, the entire infrastructure required.

Mr. Chakravarthi said there is immense interest among firms to set up data centres in Hyderabad in the backdrop of leading firms globally Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft having a strong presence here, the region seismically stable and optic fibre connectivity.

Explore hinterland

Calling upon data centre firms to consider locations beyond Hyderabad, he said “we would be more than happy to give much bigger land parcels if you go a little farther.” The emphasis on spatial planning in the State’s Vision 2047 document will within next few years see creation of radial roads and Regional Ring Road thus reducing travel time from the hinterland to Outer Ring Ring to around 90 minutes.

Availability of power and water in such locations will be easier compared to Hyderabad whose water requirements, both domestic and industrial, including that required for cooling needs of data centres have to be lifted, he said. There are plans to utilise grey water for the cooling systems and adopt district cooling technology, he said.

The senior official urged data centre investors to help the State also play host to the manufacturing facilities of firms part of the ecosystem. “We want to bring the entire backward and also forward linkages... want them to manufacture here,” he said.

Special Chief Secretary to the Department of Energy Navin Mittal said Telangana recorded nearly 10% growth in peak power demand this year and is rapidly strengthening energy ecosystem to meet the rising needs of industries and AI-driven digital infrastructure.

ASSOCHAM in a release said discussions at the conference highlighted Telangana’s emergence as a strategic digital infrastructure hub supported by progressive policy frameworks, robust connectivity and skilled talent availability.