With the Budget providing incentives to turbocharge investments in data centres, Prime Minister Narendra Modi  pitched India as a global hub for digital infrastructure and artificial intelligence, saying the country is ready to host the world’s data and lead the next wave of the technology revolution.

“The tax incentives announced in the Budget are designed to accelerate investment in this space, lower the cost of building advanced facilities and position India as a globally-competitive destination for data infrastructure,” Modi said in an exclusive interview to PTI.

In a strong global-outreach message, the prime minister said, “We invite the whole world’s data to reside in India!”

In the just-unveiled Budget for the financial year starting April, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced that the likes of Amazon, Google and Microsoft could receive a tax holiday until 2047 on global cloud revenues if they route foreign workloads through Indian data centres.

Also, data-centre services are now eligible for a coverage under the Safe Harbour Rules, with a margin of 15 per cent, as the Budget 2026-27 has pushed to attract AI investment, boost infrastructure and jobs, while managing competition, data protection and enforcement risks.

Modi underscored the importance of data centres. “When we think of technology, we often focus on what is visible, such as applications, platforms and devices. But equally important are the foundational layers that make all such things possible. Data centres are one such critical layer,” he said.

Linking this to AI, the prime minister said, “The importance of this becomes even more apparent when we look at the domain of artificial intelligence. AI needs computing power and data-centre infrastructure. By expanding capacity today, we are laying the foundations for a thriving Indian AI ecosystem.”

Recognising this potential, major investments have already been announced in this space by international and Indian companies in the recent past.

“The tax incentives announced in the Budget are designed to accelerate investment in this space, lower the cost of building advanced facilities and position India as a globally-competitive destination for data infrastructure. The result of this, too, will be a massive number of jobs for our youth,” Modi said in the written interview.

In a strong pitch to global investors, the prime minister added: “We invite the whole world’s data to reside in India!”

His pitch came a day before India hosts the global assembly of tech tycoons, AI business leaders, policymakers, investors and innovators. The Global AI Impact Summit, to be held in New Delhi from February 16 to 20, will see a host of heads of state and government, including France’s Emmanuel Macron and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, along with the representatives of more than 60 other countries.

Modi said India must move beyond digital adoption to digital leadership, arguing that in a technology- and data-driven world, leadership, and not mere participation, will determine inclusion, competitiveness and growth.

“The world has been undergoing significant shifts in its technological landscape. Now, nations cannot be content with just digital adoption but must also aspire to digital leadership. As we saw in the digital payments space, only with digital leadership will digital inclusion become possible,” he said.

Drawing a historical contrast, the prime minister added: “During the Industrial Revolution, we were left behind due to colonisation. During the earlier manufacturing revolution, we were left behind due to neglect by post-independence governments. But now, in this technological and data-driven revolution, it is important that we take the lead.”

He said India’s scale and diversity give it a unique advantage.

“India, with an aspirational population of 140 crore people, is one of the world’s largest generators and consumers of data. We are one of the most diverse nations in the world and our data also reflects this diversity. Such a massive and diverse data pool has great potential only when it can be leveraged safely and productively. So we are paying attention to every aspect of the data ecosystem, including security, skills, software and infrastructure,” the prime minister said.

On safeguards, he pointed to the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.

“For security, we brought in the digital personal data protection law to build a safe, secure, privacy-protecting, rights-based framework that empowers citizens,” he said.

Modi said India’s strength in talent and software is already recognised globally.

“As for skills and software, the talent of Indian youth in the data-science space is world-renowned,” he asserted.