IANS Exclusive:Mumbai,Maharashtra: India is a hotspot for hyperscalers, with 440 acres acquired for data centres in cities like Hyderabad and Mumbai, said Devi Shankar of Anarock Capital. Valued at $10 billion, the industry has grown from 590 MW in 2019 to 1.4 GW in 2024, driven by rising data use, AI, and supportive policies. Green data centres are also on the rise as demand surges.
#IndiaDataCenters #HyperscaleGrowth #DigitalIndia #AnarockCapital #Mumbai #Hyderabad
#IndiaDataCenters #HyperscaleGrowth #DigitalIndia #AnarockCapital #Mumbai #Hyderabad
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NewsTranscript
00:00There are many factors. The last 7-8 years, a lot of push has come on the digital side.
00:13Like the shift of e-commerce from offline to online, Jio's low-cost telecom plan had mobile telecommunication.
00:29So there are all these factors. Even the government had announced the data protection policy.
00:35All data of Indian consumers have to be stored in India.
00:39So these were some points because of which all the cloud companies like Amazon, Google,
00:44they started looking at India so that they can store the Indian data in India itself.
00:49So the scale just increased completely.
00:52And this has primarily been the reason why this boom has been going on for the last 7 years.
01:01Till now, the data centers coming to India are primarily for cloud.
01:05Data storage like email and social media is for processing and storage.
01:12But now the trend is of AI.
01:15So what we are seeing in America, it's all an AI game.
01:18And because of AI, there has been a significant growth in demand in the US.
01:23Same trend will come into India as well.
01:26It hasn't started yet, but the banks and financial institutions are already factoring that
01:36they will need this much AI storage and computing.
01:40So they are already planning for that.
01:42And they are going in for mega facilities.
01:45So that change is coming.
01:46It will take about 2 years for us to see that demand coming in full form.
01:51But now the talk has started, planning has started.
01:56So it will come in the next 1-2 years.
01:59Government policy was announcing the same at the national level, the data center policy.
02:05It is still in the draft.
02:07It hasn't been implemented yet.
02:09The government support and regulations that we are seeing,
02:14the state governments have subsidized their own IT policies or data center policies.
02:22Or they have given stamp duty exemptions.
02:25So the benefits that we are getting from there,
02:27that is the initiative of the state government.
02:31Like we are seeing Hyderabad, Telangana government, Tamil Nadu government, Maharashtra government,
02:36Uttar Pradesh government, Karnataka government,
02:39they are pushing a lot to get data center investments.
02:42Unfortunately, the central government hasn't pushed that much yet.
02:47There is an awareness that we need to do more.
02:50But it hasn't been converted into action yet.
02:53And I think the central government should also start working a little more.
02:56Because we are seeing that there is a lot of competition in Asia Pacific.
03:01Like Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand.
03:05These small Southeast Asian countries are becoming tough competitors.
03:09So India to get its geographical advantage or population advantage,
03:15that the central government should work on and try to push.
03:20And how to capitalize on India.
03:23Actually, this data boom has been going on for the last 10 years.
03:28Before that, the data centers were very small.
03:32And there was not much storage in India.
03:35All the data of India was stored in the US or Singapore or Ireland.
03:41So there was no opportunity before.
03:44But the digital India push that the Modi government has done,
03:50we have got a lot of benefits from it.
03:54And primarily, the data sovereignty that every country is bringing.
03:59Their data should be stored there.
04:01Data in privacy laws.
04:04So that has really helped India.
04:07So I wouldn't say government to government.
04:10But time has evolved.
04:11And as the demand has increased, we have taken advantage of that.
04:15We will definitely see the benefits.
04:19State governments, for example, the Chennai government, Tamil Nadu government,
04:25just now they did a big data center park tie-up.
04:31So they are kind of giving the benefits.
04:35They are inviting them.
04:37They are very warm.
04:38Like before, there was not so much.
04:40When we go to the government and ask for some business benefits,
04:44there was not so much.
04:45But now they are very proactive.
04:47They are coming in front and saying, you are our state.
04:50We will give you benefits.
04:51You have issues.
04:52Land acquisition is not approved.
04:54We will give you a single window clearing.
04:57It encourages a lot.
04:59For example, Hyderabad.
05:01There is no cable landing station there.
05:04But the government gave a single window clearing.
05:07Land provision was done with power.
05:10So they have benefited a lot.
05:12And Hyderabad has now become a data center hub availability zone.
05:16Like the state government,
05:18they are giving initiatives.
05:20They are giving a lot of benefits.
05:21So, sustainability, the main thing is renewables.
05:24Because power is the biggest importance of a data center.
05:28Power and cooling.
05:29This is a very prime infrastructure.
05:32So, a lot of data centers are in the US now.
05:36Hyper scalers like Amazon, Google, Microsoft.
05:39They are striving to be 100% green data centers.
05:42In India, the infrastructure is not 100% strong.
05:47But whatever is being planned,
05:49at least 50-60% green, clean power source
05:54can be used in the airport.
05:57Hopefully, as the transmission line gets stronger,
06:02there are no transmission losses,
06:04the grid infrastructure is better.
06:06So, we can also look at going up to 100% green power.
06:09Primarily, the focus on data centers,
06:11sustainability is on green power.
06:13A lot of other ancillary sustainability aspects,
06:16like water.
06:18Because water has a lot of influence in cooling.
06:20So, water management, waste management.
06:22All this will start coming.
06:25People are not focusing so much on it.
06:27But as soon as there is a power cut,
06:29there is no plan B.
06:31So, step by step,
06:32we will move towards more sustainability aspects.
06:35But in India,
06:37the approach towards sustainability
06:42is mainly to source the adequate amount of green energy.
06:45Because it is challenging.
06:47There is no continuity.
06:49Like solar,
06:51it is not available day and night.
06:53It has to be stored.
06:55There is a cost.
06:56So, there are issues of intermittency.
06:58So, the government has just announced nuclear reactors.
07:02The small nuclear reactors.
07:04It is a game-changer.
07:05Because the nuclear reactors
07:07produce a lot of power with very less resources.
07:10And that's absolutely green energy.
07:12So, those could be some really good benefits.
07:14Global cloud service operators are actually customers.
07:18So, like the data centers,
07:21they build their own data centers.
07:23They don't take space in other data centers.
07:26So, global cloud companies
07:28like Google, Amazon, Microsoft,
07:30they also take spaces across different operators.
07:33So, their relationships will be in the US.
07:36But in India,
07:38they have made very good relationships.
07:40Like, there is Intel SLC,
07:42there is Nextra.
07:44And a lot of Indian operators
07:46who have been here from the beginning,
07:48they have got a good track record
07:51that they can operate good facilities
07:53at a higher scale.
07:55So, they have definitely been,
07:58I would say,
08:00tough competitors to global operators as well
08:02who are coming in.
08:04It hasn't happened that global operators
08:07have come to India
08:08and then they have kind of got the best practices
08:10and the Indian operators are not able to catch up.
08:13It hasn't happened like that.
08:14There are those three, four...
08:15Basically, the data center industry
08:17is very small in India.
08:19Like, in all, there are 17 operators.
08:21In that, Indian operators will be about
08:23five or six Indian operators only.
08:26And they have built good world-class facilities.
08:32India.