Connect | India // Debate: Building the workforce for India’s AI infrastructure - Are we doing enough?

Data centres don’t need large headcounts, but they do need highly specialised people. India’s data centre market is scaling rapidly, yet the pool of professionals with real build, commissioning and operations experience remains limited. As AI workloads push rack density and operational precision to new levels, the risk is shifting from “can we deliver MWs?” to “can we build and retain the teams that keep them reliable for the next decade?” With experienced engineers increasingly drawn to opportunities across the Middle East and Southeast Asia, retention is becoming a structural challenge, not just a recruitment issue. This debate will examine how India can build a sustainable data centre workforce by addressing:

• The concrete retention strategies: compensation, career pathways and long-term incentives that actually work
• How operators can scale structured training models beyond ad-hoc hiring
• Whether developers should integrate workforce academies directly into large-scale campus developments
• What scalable alternatives to traditional campus hiring can expand the talent pool
• Whether intentional industry collaboration is required to grow the workforce, or whether competition will continue to dominate