In the 75th year of Indian Independence, the country came up with Vision India @ 2047, a set of goals it hopes to achieve in order to become a fully developed economy by the 100th year of Independence, i.e 2047. One of the key goals of this Vision India @ 2047 is to complete India’s digital transformation, which means the Indian data center industry will have a major role to play in making the nation’s dreams come true.
Indian Data Center Market
Earlier this year, a report by Cushman & Wakefield revealed that the Indian data center market size had touched 1 GW in the second half (H2) of 2023. Yet another, more recent report, by the same American global commercial real estate services firm, has revealed that the Indian Data Center industry is poised for phenomenal growth over the next five years. This report titled Is India Building Enough to Power its Digital Transformation, finds that by 2028, India will treble its installed capacity with a total IT load of 3.29 GW.
According to the report, 2023 has seen an addition of 258 MW which is 105 percent higher than that of full year 2022. The expectation is that 250+ MW is likely to be added in 2024. The report further says that an average of 464 MW of Colo capacity will be added annually between 2024 and 2028 across the top seven cities, namely Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad and Kolkata.
Meanwhile, a recent report released by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has revealed that the Indian Data Center industry to attract investments worth US$5.7 Billion by 2026 due to a surge in demand caused by the Artificial Intelligence (AI) boom and increase in 5G data consumption. The report also predicts that the industry capacity would grow to 1,645 MW by the end of 2026, with Mumbai and Chennai to account for 81 percent of the new capacity additions.
Along similar lines, a report released by CareEdge, which is a knowledge-based analytical group offering services in Credit Ratings, Analytics, Consulting and Sustainability, said that the size of the Indian data center industry could double, and touch 2 GW, by 2026.
Vision for India @ 2047
The Vision document was put together by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) of the Government of India, and it clearly says that its mission is to “facilitate the move from digitization to digitalization to digital transformation in creation of an agile, collaborative and connected government using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) and evidence-based policy making.”
The Vision document for India @ 2047 envisages using AI and ML for public grievance redressal, among other public services. DARPG has entered into collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and established a Data Governance Quality Unit for use of AI and ML in improved analytics of the Central Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS).
Therefore, data center operators are carefully considering how they can make a meaningful contribution.
How Industry Leaders foresee Data Centers shaping India’s economic future
“If I say, data is the new oil, that would be an understatement,” said Surajit Chatterjee, MD, CapitaLand Data Center Services Pvt. Ltd. while speaking to W.Media’s Editor-in-Chief, Deborah Grey, on the sidelines of the Chennai Cloud and Datacenter Convention in May 2024. “I think the digital revolution has already arrived. Where will you store all that data? That’s where the infrastructure comes,” he said, predicting, “I think in the next five years, the data center as an asset class will be a developed portfolio.” CapitaLand is one of Asia’s largest diversified real estate groups that has 26 data centers in Asia and Europe. In India, it has data centers in various stages of development in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Navi Mumbai. “Today we have the global technology and global players have entered India. There are large business groups who are focused and have a clear vision to ramp up and with an understanding of on ground dynamics of India, this mix is helping us to scale very fast,” he added.
Speaking at the same event, CB Velayuthan, CEO of Digital Connexion, one of the newest entrants into the Indian data center market, said, “India generates 20 percent of global data, but we have only 3 percent of the global data center capacity,” adding, “We have a long runway ahead of us to cater to this demand, and this is why I call this a marathon.” Velayuthan continued, “We have the capability to also become a data center hub for international players who want to use India as a hub to drive a lot of their applications.” Digital Connexion is the product of a three-way joint venture between India’s Reliance Industries, Canada’s Brookfield Asset Management, and US-based Digital Realty.
“Over the years, India has been slowly transitioning from being largely an agrarian economy to an advanced manufacturing and services hub. It is currently poised to become an economic powerhouse driven heavily by technological innovations,” says another industry heavyweight Sunil Gupta, Co-founder, MD and CEO, Yotta. Yotta has has a portfolio of five large data centers in India, including two Tier-4 rated facilities in Navi Mumbai and Greater Noida. Gupta also takes us back to the key role of role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this journey saying, “AI and GenAI has immense potential to speed up India’s growth on its road to 2047. This, however, necessitates the upgrade of existing traditional infrastructures like cloud, data centers and cybersecurity frameworks along with access to hyper-connectivity.”
“With investments worth US$ 23 Billion planned for digital infrastructure by 2047, India’s digital journey is just taking off, setting the stage for unprecedented growth,” says Lalit Khanna, Chief Operating Officer, STT GDC India. It is noteworthy that ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC), which is one of the world’s fastest growing data center providers, has also been expanding its footprint in India, mainly in Chennai. “Vision 2047 would see an India that stands at the forefront of digital leadership, thriving economy with digital enablement across sectors and cutting-edge technology skills and R&D, pervasive and equitable access to digital,” says Khanna adding, “STT GDC India will expand sustainable, cutting-edge data centres across India to power the digital future. Through partnerships, we will enable connectivity, cloud, AI, uplifting sectors like healthcare.”
Suppan Saravanamuthu, Director of Operations – APAC, Iron Mountain Data Centers, concurs, saying, “I am seeing the digitalisation is growing very fast in India, for example Digital Payments, which is 50 percent growth in the past five years. India is driven by smartphone adoption, government initiatives and high internet usage. All this data will need to be stored in Cloud, and for that we need high-capacity data centers.” Iron Mountain Data Centers is a global provider of data center and colocation services and has launched projects in association with Indian partners in Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and NOIDA, with plans for Chennai in the pipeline.
W.Media recognises India’s potential
W.Media a global B2B technology publication that covers the Cloud and Data Center industry has been keeping a keen eye on India’s data center market. We hold a variety of industry events across the country to showcase exciting data center markets in South Asia. Our next day-long industry convention will be held in Bangalore.
Bangalore Cloud and Datacenter Convention (CDC) will take place at Embassy ONE at the Four Seasons Hotel on July 26, 2024. This is the third edition of Bangalore CDC, and it will bring together over 750 delegates, including C-level executives, digital infrastructure professionals including architects, engineers and consultants (AECs), key buyers, decision makers, data center owners and operators.
The event will see industry bigwigs, including Chatterjee and Velayuthan, who will participate in a special power-packed panel discussion at the Bangalore CDC. Other dignitaries and special guests include Syed Mohamed Beary (Founder & Chairman, Bearys Group, Chairman, IGBC Bangalore Chapter), Vinod Javur (COO, Digital Edge DC), Girish Dhavale (CTO, Sify Technologies), Rajesh Garg (Sr. EVP & CDO, Yotta Data Services PVT Ltd.), Dr. EV Ramana Reddy, IAS (Chairman, Karnataka Skills Development Authority), and many others.
REGISTER NOW!
So, what are you waiting for? Come, join us at Embassy ONE at the Four Seasons Hotel on July 26, 2024, for the Bangalore Cloud & Datacenter Convention. If you haven’t booked your passes yet, hurry! Click here to register, and learn more about the agenda, speakers, schedule, and session information.
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