9AUGUST 2025SUGAR PRODUCTION IN INDIA TO RISE 18%, INDUSTRY SEEKS ACTIONGOOGLE DATA CENTER TO POWER INDIA'S AI CLOUD WITH $6B PROJECTSugar production in India is estimated to soar by 18 percent to 349 lakh tonnes in 2025-26 crop year, as compared to 295 lakh tonnes in the previous season.The Indian Sugar and Bio Energy Manufacturers Association (ISMA) said in its first estimates today. This Google is preparing to bolster India's AI Cloud with a USD $6 billion investment in a data center in Andhra Pradesh, its largest investment in Asia.The facility will be a 1-gigawatt project in Vishakhapatnam; the facility will also be Google's first data center in India and will be a significant step in its global USD $75 billion data centre expansion initiative.projected increase, brought about by positive rains and better cane recovery, has motivated industry leaders, to press the government, to permit timely sugar exports and to divert more to ethanol production."With higher gross sugar output expected in the next season, there is scope for export of 20 lakh tonne in 2025-26 season," Indian Sugar and Bio Energy Manufacturers Association's (ISMA) president Gautam Goel said.In the continuing season of 2024-25, production of sugar is estimated at 261 lakh tonnes, and thus far 10 lakh tonnes have been allowed to be exported. In comparison, the new season is projected to experience significant improvements in significant producing states with Maharashtra likely to get 133 lakh tonnes compared to 93.3 lakh tonnes last year, an improvement in Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh as well.The industry also wants the government to lower the minimum price at which sugar can be sold and raise the price of ethanol made out of B-molasses and cane juice. As 40,000 crore has already been spent on ethanol production plants, it is felt that government has to provide a timely policy support to achieve biofuel targets and to regulate the increasing production in an efficient manner. Of the total investment, USD $2 billion will be used to develop renewable energy capacity to support the facility's sustainable energy requirements. The overall project will transform India's place in the global digital economy in the face of heightened demand for AI and cloud computing infrastructure in the country.This strategic investment comes as technology companies are competing to establish a growing presence in India. Microsoft has announced a USD $3.7 billion investment to expand its AI and cloud infrastructure in India and Amazon has a plan to invest USD $13 billion by 2030. Furthermore, companies like Blackstone, OpenAI, NTT Data, and Reliance Group are pursuing large-scale data infrastructure projects in India.After losing Hyderabad to Telangana, Andhra Pradesh has been courting tech investments aggressively. State IT Minister Nara Lokesh confirmed that commitments for 1.6 GW of data center capacity are already in place, with a vision to reach 6 GW in five years. The state is also preparing to meet the projected 10 GW power demand, largely through renewables.To support this growth, three new undersea cable landing stations are planned in Visakhapatnam, aiming to provide international bandwidth double that of Mumbai.
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