Kamal Ghorui
India has to make an important choice about Artificial Intelligence (AI). AI needs two big things: A lot of electricity, and very powerful computer chips called GPUs. These chips are super expensive—one chip can cost as much as a car! India already has many of these chips, but they use a huge amount of electricity.
The Electricity Problem: Today, all of India’s data centres use about one‑fourth of the electricity that the whole city of Delhi uses. By 2030, these data centres may use more electricity than Delhi itself!
The Global Race: You can imagine this as a race between countries. United States is running very fast. It has the most data centres and controls the best chips. China started training 10 years earlier. India has 38,000 chips, but China is trying to get 2 million. They’re even building their own chips. India is still in the early stages compared to them.
The Big Question: Who gets the electricity? As Indians become richer, they will want more things that need power—like air conditioners, microwaves, and heaters. But AI factories (data centres) also need a LOT of electricity.
So the government has to choose between using electricity for AI, or making sure families don’t end up paying more for their daily electricity.
What Should India Do? India shouldn’t think small. If India wants to be a global leader in AI, it needs to build its own powerful chips, produce a lot more electricity, and invest big, not small. Playing safe won’t help India win the AI race.
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