NEWS: The Karnataka Cabinet has approved the Sustainable Data Centre Policy (2026-2031) targeting 1 GW of IT load by 2031 to make the State a green, AI-ready data centre destination, alongside a new Marine Biotechnology Policy to boost the blue bioeconomy

Overview & Targets

• Policy Approved -> Karnataka Sustainable Data Centre Policy (2026-2031) approved during the Cabinet meeting in Mangaluru.
• IT Load Target -> Aims for 1 GW of cumulative data centre IT load by 2031.
• Capacity Ambition -> Seeks to account for 10% to 12% of India's AI-ready data centre capacity.
• Budget Framework -> Proposes a revised budget framework of 1,300.45 crore for implementation.

Key Focus Areas & Highlights

• Sustainability Goals -> Emphasizes renewable energy adoption, energy efficiency, advanced cooling, water management, carbon emission mitigation, and monitoring PUE/WUE.
• Beyond Bengaluru -> Aims to support data centre development beyond Bengaluru to create a distributed digital infrastructure ecosystem across the State.
• Incentives & Zones -> Introduces performance-linked sustainability incentives and establishes sustainable data centre zones and parks.

Implementation & Supporting Policies

• Anchor Agencies -> Department of Electronics, IT, BT and S&T will anchor implementation via KITS (registration interface), while Karnataka Udyoga Mitra (KUM) acts as the Single Window Agency.
• Marine Biotechnology Policy -> The Cabinet also approved the Karnataka Marine Biotechnology Policy (2026-2031) to grow the blue bio-economy from approximately $2 billion to $6-8 billion by 2031, creating thousands of technical and livelihood opportunities.