Reliance Gains 2% on Meta's 168 MW AI Data Centre Deal

Reliance Industries Lands Meta's 168 MW AI Data Centre at Jamnagar [Reliance Industries](/stock/RELIANCE) (NSE: RELIANCE) climbed roughly 2% intraday after Meta Platforms confirmed a partnership to build a 168 MW AI data centre at Jamnagar, Gujarat — one of the largest single-site AI infrastructure commitments announced in India to date. The stock closed near ₹1,410, adding approximately ₹19,000 crore to its market capitalisation in a single session. That's not a rounding error. For context, 168 MW of dedicated AI compute capacity is comparable to what hyperscalers have been deploying across entire countries in Southeast Asia. Meta's choice of Jamnagar is deliberate. Reliance already operates the world's largest oil refining complex there, along with a growing renewable energy footprint. Powering a 168 MW data centre — which will draw the equivalent of a mid-sized Indian city's electricity load — demands exactly that kind of on-site energy infrastructure. This isn't a lease agreement; it's a structural bet on Reliance's ability to deliver power, land, and connectivity at scale. The deal positions Reliance squarely inside the global AI infrastructure race. India's data centre capacity stood at roughly 900 MW as of early 2024, per JLL's Asia Pacific Data Centre report. This single deal represents nearly 19% of that installed base in one announcement. That's the number investors should anchor to. Sector Impact: Power, Telecom, and Data Centre Stocks Move The immediate read-across hit the power and digital infrastructure sectors hard — in a good way. NSE: POWERGRID ticked up modestly on expectations that grid connectivity projects feeding large industrial AI hubs will accelerate. NSE: ADANIGREEN also attracted buying interest; analysts at Nuvama have previously estimated that every 100 MW of new data centre capacity in India creates incremental renewable procurement demand of 250–300 MW over a 5-7 year horizon, given sustainability commitments from hyperscalers lik...