India’s Data Centre Plan in Anticipation of Tsunami of Data in Country

An incentive policy for the private sector companies to set up data center parks in India will make it affordable for firms to store data locally vis-à-vis other locations such as Singapore and also prepare them for the deluge of data which is expected to be generated in the country in the next few years with the growth of Internet of Things (IoT) and 5G.

“There is a tsunami of data which is expected to hit India and the country is expected to be a huge market for data centers since companies will prefer it to be stored here for lesser latency. This policy is preparing the country for that deluge in the long run,” said a senior government official.

The person said that irrespective of whether the government mandates data localisation or not, large companies like Facebook or Google have already been contemplating moving their data centers to India since it’s a business requirement for them given the size of India’s data market. With close to 450 million Internet users, India is already the largest market for companies like Facebook in terms of users.

“If the government makes it affordable then companies will automatically to store data in India instead of looking at countries like Singapore or the US,” said Sangeeta Gupta, chief strategy officer of Nasscom. Last year, when it was speculated that the government may ask companies to store all their data in India, industry criticised it arguing that the cost of keeping data in India was huge and will impact businesses, especially SMEs negatively.

On Friday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that a policy will be worked out for the private sector to set up data centers in India to take advantage of how “analytics, fintech and Internet of Things (IOT) are changing the way we deal with our lives.”

However, industry will require not just sops if the government has to attract private companies to set up data centres in the country and will also need support in terms of real-estate, 24*7 internet connectivity, uninterrupted power etc along with a promise of security from the government if they have to look at as a destination for data centres.

“The demand has been huge for data centers in India. There is so much data consumption in India, and if it’s closer home, it will be cheaper and the latency will also be lower,” said Akhilesh Tuteja, Global Cyber Security practice Co-leader at KPMG. He added that however data centers are extremely heavy on capital expenditure and the government will have to provide resilience of infrastructure such as power, cooling, connectivity, reliable real-estate etc.”

Several large firms such as Adani Group, Hiranandani Group and Reliance Industries have already announced investment plans to set up data centres in various parts of the country.

Several large firms such as Adani Group, Hiranandani Group and Reliance Industries have already announced investment plans to set up data centres in various parts of the country.

Analysts said dedicated zone for such a park has already been announced and work has started to build such facilities as the government is pushing to create infrastructure.

“Essentially, with the push for digitisation across all sectors you need adequate infrastructure at the back-end with data warehouses. Investment zones have been allocated in Mumbai. It will be much in line with the Special Economic Zones,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief executive Greyhound Research.

Industry observers are of the view that a push towards building data centre parks would enable information sharing across cross-functional sectors or organisations. This proposal, according to Rajeshree Sabnavis, founder of Rajeshree Sabnavis & Associates, would also attract foreign investment.

“This will not only enable data accessibility and information sharing across cross-functional databases but also help in improved digital connectivity across the nation. This initiative will also lead to attracting FDI in the country and spur employment generation on a mass scale,” she said.

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Source: ET

Image Courtesy:Gigabytes

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