Zerodha’s Nikhil Kamath: In 10 Years, Energy Might Be Our Money

In a world where data is the new oil, could electricity be the next money? Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath believes we might be heading in that direction.

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In a recent post on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), Kamath shared a bold prediction: “10 years from now, energy and electrons might be the currency of trade.” His comment comes at a time when the global demand for electricity is skyrocketing—driven largely by the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the sprawling infrastructure of data centres.

Why Energy Is at the Heart of the Digital Economy

Every time you ask a question to ChatGPT, stream a movie, or make an online payment, somewhere a data centre is working around the clock to make that happen. These massive facilities are packed with servers that require constant power—not just for computing but also to keep them cool and operational 24/7.

Currently, electricity makes up about 65% of a data centre’s running costs. To put it into perspective, a single new data centre can consume more power annually than 400,000 electric vehicles combined. Globally, data centres already account for 1.5% of total energy use, and that number could climb to 10% by 2030.

In the U.S. alone, data centres used 4.4% of all electricity in 2023, and their consumption is expected to nearly triple to 12% by 2028.

India’s Data Dilemma: Handling More with Less

India’s position in this evolving energy landscape is unique. Although the country has only 264 data centres—just 3% of global capacity—it manages a staggering 20% of the world’s data. Most of these centres are concentrated in major cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Noida, Bengaluru, Pune, and Hyderabad.

With strong government support through initiatives like the India AI Mission and 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) allowed in the sector, India is racing to build more data infrastructure. But the rapid growth comes with its own set of challenges.

Only 27% of India’s data centre energy currently comes from clean, renewable sources, compared to a global target of 50% by 2030. The environmental cost is real. For example, generating a single ChatGPT response consumes about 10 times more energy than a regular Google search.

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