45 data centres spanning around 13 million sq ft to come up by 2025

Buoyed by growing digital demand, about 45 data centres (DCs) spanning 13 million sq ft and 1,015 Mw of IT capacity are likely to come up in India by 2025-end, said the ANAROCK-Binswanger report ‘Under the Lens: India’s Data Centre Explosion.’

In terms of IT capacity (1,015 Mw), over 69 per cent of this new supply will come up in Mumbai and Chennai, with 51 per cent in Mumbai alone. Currently, there are 138 DCs across India spanning about 11 mn sq ft and with 737 Mw of IT capacity (building ready). At least 57 per cent of the current IT capacity is in Mumbai and Chennai collectively.

With the addition of this new supply, 2025-end will see India hosting 183 DCs on 24 million sq ft, with at least 1,752 Mw of total IT capacity.

Devi Shankar, President-Industrial & Logistics and Data Centres, ANAROCK Capital, says “The current size of the India data centre industry is about $5.6 billion and is bound to grow. The unprecedented crisis created by the Covid-19 outbreak has propelled the data centre business forward, providing an unexpected tailwind. Technology adoption and digitisation across sectors were fast-tracked globally and India also leap-frogged by at least a decade in the past few years. The country’s total estimated data centre demand is expected to be 2,100 Mw as of FY25, with a mix between hyperscalers and enterprises – 35:65 (excluding self-owned hyperscaler capacity).”

Meanwhile, there is additional potential of nearly 2,688 Mw of future unplanned supply in India. Land for this has been locked in by DC operators, but the projects will likely be planned based on actual demand and/or outcome of earlier planned phases. While this represents land banking for providing scalability for future expansion to customers, the capacity must be judiciously released into the market to ensure price stability. Around 78 per cent of this unplanned IT capacity is to be concentrated in Mumbai and Hyderabad.

Jeff Binwanger, Managing Partner, Binswanger, says, “Companies are really starting to relook where they are putting their operations globally, where they would like to relocate and where do they want to manufacture, distribute and set up their database and technology facilities. Data centres are currently a fulcrum for a lot of the decision-making, especially in Asia Pacific and in India.”

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