India's Data Centre Story Is a Power Story Before It Is a Compute Story: BPE

As India's data centre investments surge past $126 billion, Best Power Equipments (BPE) is transforming from a power protection supplier into a full-scale infrastructure partner. Girish Chandra, Director - Global Data Center Infrastructure Solutions and Enterprise at Best Power Equipments (BPE), outlines the company's push into high-density, AI-ready power systems, sustainable and secure infrastructure, and domestic manufacturing to support India's rapidly scaling digital economy.

Engineering Power Infrastructure for AI-Era Density

"India's data center story is, at its core, a power story before it is a compute story. The sector attracted $56.4 billion in investment in 2025 alone, taking cumulative commitments to $126 billion, and that figure is projected to grow nearly 45% year-on-year to exceed $180 billion in 2026, with total capacity expanding around 30% this year on the back of an estimated 800 MW of fresh supply. At Best Power Equipments, we are evolving from being a supplier of power protection systems to becoming a genuine infrastructure partner for this scale of growth, investing in high-density UPS architectures and modular power systems engineered for AI-era workloads. Facilities once designed for rack densities of 5–10 kW must now support 30–80 kW, and in some deployments upward of 100 kW plus per rack, a shift that is redefining what resilient power infrastructure must look like."

Engineering Sustainability, Security and Data Sovereignty Together

"We believe sustainability and resilience must be engineered together, not treated as trade-offs. Our investments in energy-efficient power conversion and lithium-based storage are helping operators, particularly in leading markets such as Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Vizag and Chennai, work toward best-in-class efficiency benchmarks without compromising uptime. Cybersecurity, too, now extends to the physical layer; our systems are built with hardened firmware because a compromised power controller can be as damaging as a network breach. On data sovereignty, we manufacture and support critical power components domestically, reducing dependence on imported infrastructure at a time when the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, is reshaping how the industry thinks about localization."

Scaling Capacity Amid India's Infrastructure Race

"The opportunity ahead is substantial: India's installed capacity is projected to grow from 1.5 GW in 2026 to over 6.5 GW by 2031, close to a threefold increase within five years. The challenge lies in keeping pace, as grid capacity, BESS, land availability, and skilled manpower for high-density deployment struggle to match the speed of demand, even as cities like Hyderabad and Vizag post the fastest capacity growth nationally. We are preparing by expanding our manufacturing footprint, deepening partnerships with hyperscalers and colocation operators, and building teams equally fluent in power engineering and digital infrastructure. The next five years will distinguish those who merely supply equipment from those who co-engineer resilience with their customers, and that is precisely where we intend to stand."