The technology landscape is evolving rapidly in the age of AI. How is the Indian data center industry keeping up with ever changing demands vis-a-vis compute power, scale, and more importantly sustainability? To discuss all this and more, W.Media caught up with Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder and CEO, CtrlS Datacenters.
As a technology industry leader, what is the one thing that you find most exciting about India’s digital infrastructure landscape today?
I’m excited about how India is emerging as a leader in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in the field of renewable energy, rapidly progressing toward the goal of supplying 100 percent green power. This transformation is driven by an ambitious national agenda, strong policy support, and significant investments in clean energy infrastructure.
Also exciting, is the swift expansion of datacenters, moving beyond traditional metro areas to create digital hubs across the country is another game changer for the industry. We are witnessing the emergence of edge datacenters in tier II and tier III regions, catalyzed by both the Personal Data Protection framework, which drives data localization, and state-level policies that offer generous capex and operational subsidies.
At CtrlS, we have already commissioned edge facilities in Lucknow and Patna, and over the next few years, we plan to deploy more than 20 greenfield edge datacenters across India’s emerging cities.
In your opinion, has the industry been able to manage growth effectively, especially in the wake of AI, or does it need more introspection and realistic goal setting to evolve more meaningfully?
The industry is capable of managing growth, with multiple capable participants. For example, CtrlS has increased its capacity from 125 MW to 250 MW within just two years and also bought land and power for 2 GW, simultaneously. We even built a solar power plant to supply green power to our DCs during this period.
Most pension and insurance funds have planned datacenter investments, ensuring adequate capital is available at reasonable costs. However, the landscape is being shaped by external factors such as geopolitical dynamics, including the US-China rivalry over AI supremacy, laws around AI chips and surprising developments like DeepSeek’s unexpected launch. These shifts have led hyperscalers to recalibrate their strategies, adjusting investments and portfolio priorities to align more closely with evolving realities.
While immediate adjustments may appear cautious, they exemplify the industry’s broader commitment to realistic goal-setting, ensuring sustainable growth that meets the compute-intensive demands of emerging AI applications.
How do you propose to tame the AI beast?
AI isn’t a beast, and it can’t be tamed! It is a life changing, once in a few centuries, kind of innovation, which needs to be embraced! AI has the ability to evolve, adapt, and amplify human capability at a scale never before imagined. AI isn’t here to replace humanity; it’s here to augment it. Whether it is revolutionizing medicine, making education more accessible, solving climate problems, or unleashing human creativity, AI is a catalyst for progress.
What is your vision of a “future-ready” data center?
A datacenter which is not only carbon neutral but also negative WUE, below 0.7 PUE!!! We should supply energy (hot or cold water) to the cities we live in. We should harvest water instead of using it! We should make water treatment plants profitable to the cities we live in. All this is technically achievable with modern advances in thermal engineering, environmental systems, AI control, and renewable microgrids.
While everyone is talking about sustainability, what can the industry do to actually walk the talk on sustainability?
To start with: give minimum 30 percent KRAs of sustainability goals to the CEO and the management team! Form committee at board level (like we did at CtrlS), which will meet once a month to evaluate the same. Make sure there are goals developed and assigned for all departments including HR, admin, engineering, design, procurement, projects and operations. Everyone in the company should have a sustainability goal and their bonus, salary hike, variable pay linked to it. Educate everyone that we are doing this for our children and generations after. You will see miracles happen within a few years! We started this journey several years ago, and are still learning and improvising.
What is the one thing about the industry today that gives you (at least a small amount of) anxiety? Is something falling through the cracks?
Mr. Trump! Under his leadership, the US government’s export controls and policy measures have caused significant ripple effects globally, including on countries like India.
What is your assessment of India’s connectivity ecosystem, and what can be done to develop truly robust and reliable connectivity infrastructure?
India had issues in the past but not anymore. We have a lot of other alternatives to the traditional telcos – the power grid, rail networks and companies building low latency networks between cities and within. Improved interconnection services, strong peering frameworks, and extensive intra-datacenter network upgrades helped India’s connectivity landscape.
What are some of the emerging markets within India that you have your eye on, and what makes them exciting?
India’s next wave of digital growth is emerging in cities such as Lucknow, Patna, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, and Bhopal. These cities are experiencing accelerated adoption of edge computing and significant data generation from enterprises and consumers. The rollout of 5G in India is enhancing low-latency needs for various applications, including smart manufacturing and telemedicine. Lucknow and Patna, where we have launched edge facilities, prove how local computing can significantly reduce round-trip times for essential services in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Cities such as Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar stand out for their thriving industrial sectors and robust academic environments, which are supported by government incentives that facilitate capital expenditure and land approvals for infrastructure developers. These developing markets not only expand India’s digital presence but also present attractive value proposition, reduced operating costs, local talent availability, and strong public-private partnerships, which establish them as promising opportunities for the industry.
What’s coming up at CtrlS Datacenters this year? Can you give us a sneak peek?
We are expanding our AI-ready footprint with a 40-acre campus at Chandanvelly Industrial Park in Hyderabad, Telangana, where construction is underway and will roll out in phases over the coming years. This hyperscale park has secured 250 MW of sanctioned power for its first phase, with the potential to grow to 600 MW IT load, and is designed for ultra-high-density racks utilizing liquid immersion cooling and automated network fabrics.
Recently, we also laid the foundation for a new facility in Bhopal, marking our entry into the expanding digital markets of central India. We have also launched a pilot DC in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Patna DC2 in Bihar, and Gift City project in Gujarat, will be completed in the next nine months.
CtrlS GreenVolt project 2 that will bring another 75 MW power, is under construction. Kolkata datacenter formal inauguration will take place in August. Close to 2 GW land and power is made available to our customers.
What is a valuable lesson you have learnt from your peers, and what is the one piece of advice you would like to share with your fellow tech industry leaders?
Unfortunately, I haven’t networked a lot with industry peers. We learnt about them from customers. Everyone has something special about their company, and I have deep respect for all of them. We all are very fortunate to be in the right industry at the right time.
*** Select excerpts from this interview appeared in Issue 9 of W.Media’s Cloud & Datacenters magazine. Click the image below and head to page 14-15 to read the story online:
