Industry body ASSOCHAM’s 6th India Smart Datacenters & Cloud Infrastructure Summit 2024 brought together policy makers and industry captains to deliberate on the contribution and prospect of the sector towards a Viksit Bharat. The two-day deliberation saw insightful comments and suggestions from and for the sector.
Talking about the immense potential of DataCenter sector in India, Niranjan Hiranandani, Past President ASSOCHAM and CMD, Hiranandani Group of Companies said, “We have more data in India than the US and China put together. Development of physical infrastructure is at an all-time high and Mumbai is going to see a sea change. Of the many development projects in the region, Data center will grow faster at a pace which is unprecedented in the annals of industry. We can do it cheaper; we can do it better and we can do it faster. All the three capabilities are there. Growth is imperative as far as the country is concerned. The paradigm that we really need to focus on is to make the lives of individual Indians better. We need to work collectively to ensure that the work we do creates wealth for the nation and meet the social needs of this country.”
Sunil Gupta, Chair, ASSOCHAM National Council on Datacenter and Co-Founder, MD & CEO, Yotta Data Services said, “Data is the foundational resource that underpins almost every sector from finance to health care to retail to entertainment to government-to-government activities and government to citizen facing services. Average data consumption which was just about 300 MB a few years back had already become 25 GB per month and by 2028 we will become the largest in the world in terms of per user data consumption at almost 62 GB per user per month. The digital pervasiveness is only becoming bigger making India a digital first economy leapfrogging us beyond every single largest global economy. From about 200 megawatts in 2013-14 we have grown to 1200 megawatt and we are just getting started. By 2027 we are expected to go to 2,000 megawatt. The development of our make in India sovereign cloud infrastructure will bolster data security and ensure regulatory compliance. A sovereign cloud ensures that data generated within India remains within country’s borders and also protected completely by local law and regulation.”
Surajit Chatterjee, Co-Chair, ASSOCHAM National Council on Datacenter and Managing Director, CapitaLand Data Centre, India said, “Pre-COVID, data center typically hover around 350 odd megawatts and now we are about 800 plus megawatts. Looking at the growth we will likely cross the 1600 mark by 2026. From investment of 5 to 7 billion in 2000 to about 17 to 22 billion now, this shows the scope and potential for growth. India is an untapped global data hub, we have the lowest DC construction cost, large user market in terms of both hyperscalers as well as enterprise segments. Mumbai is leading the pack in terms of the largest data center market share, followed by Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. We are now moving into tier 2 and tier 3 markets.”
In his industry address Manoj Paul, Co-chair ASSOCHAM National Council on datacenter and MD Capitaland Data centre India said “Data centers are crucial to India’s digital revolution because they provide the fundamental infrastructure needed to support a population that is gradually becoming more digital. They accelerate technology developments, promote start-up innovation, improve government services, allow remote employment and education, and boost economic growth.”
Dr Umesh Kamble Co-Chair ASSOCHAM Maharashtra State Development Council (MSDC) gave his vote of thanks by highlighting heightened need for robust data infrastructure to support digital economy and to ensure compliance in meeting local demands.
A report titled “The Strategic Role of Data Centres in Empowering India’s Digital Revolution” was launched at the summit. The paper, pointing out the hyper growth in the data centre sector, said that capacity in India is expected to double from 870 MW in fiscal 2022 to about 1,700-1,800 MW by fiscal 2025. The industry must, therefore, align with global standards and best practices to support this growth and maximise its potential. The paper, throwing light on India’s start-up ecosystem, said that the ecosystem is flourishing, with data centres providing the infrastructure necessary for start-ups to thrive in. Start-ups across various sectors, such as FinTech, Health Tech, and EdTech, rely on data centres for scalable and reliable computing resources. Cloud services hosted in data centres allow start-ups to launch and expand their operations swiftly, without the need for substantial upfront investment in IT infrastructure. By 2025, the Indian SaaS market is expected to grow from USD 13 billion in 2022 to USD 35 billion, with data centres contributing to this growth.
