The Indian data centre industry has attracted nearly $396 million in PE and strategic investments so far in 2020, according to an Anarock-Mace report -- Navigating the India Data Centre Lifecycle – Trends & Perspectives.

“The Indian data centre industry has attracted close to USD 977 mn in PE and strategic investments since 2008, of which nearly 40 per cent or approx. USD 396 mn were infused between Jan-Sept 2020 period alone,” the report said.

The report analyses various under-construction projects and capital invested or committed towards the industry.

According to the report, India will see a major growth in the data centre industry driven by increased data consumption and policy incentives.

“India currently has 126 third-party data centres (colocation or hyperscale) spanning 7.5+mn sft, and a cumulative IT Power Capacity of 590+ MW,” as per the report.

These third-party centres are owned/operated primarily by 53 players, while the capacity is concentrated among the top 12 players who operate 95 per cent of the total IT power capacity in the country.

The country will see an addition of at least 28 large hyperscale data centres over the next three years, the report said.

“These will span over 16+ mn sq. ft. with at least 1,400+ MW of IT power capacity, equalling nearly 0.6 mn sq. ft. and 50 MW per facility on an average per hyperscale data centre,” it added.

Upcoming supply of data centres is likely to be concentrated on Tier-1 cities, especially after the 5G rollout. However, increased data consumption will also be beneficial for Tier-2 cities which will generate demand for smaller colocation facilities.

The supply is expected to be “concentrated amongst Mumbai and Chennai, followed by NCR and Hyderabad also getting a fair share of interest.”

Mumbai and Chennai together will witness 60 per cent of total future capacity, with NCR and Hyderabad contributing another 33 per cent.

Indias’ data consumption is expected to hit 25GB/month by 2025 - total data traffic in the country likely to touch 21 EB (exabytes) per month, as per the report.

Anuj Puri, Chairman, Anarock Group said: “While India has been seeing a massive digital thrust since 2014, the current government’s data localization policy has paved the way for hyperscale data centres to handle the increasing data consumption.”

“Hyperscale facilities have clear advantages over smaller colocation centres as they can cater to the huge domestic data warehousing demand creating operating efficiencies and thus, pass on cost benefits to their customers. Smaller colocation facilities will need to reassess their competitive position and may need to repurpose to ensure survival,” Puri said.

Data centres will also become one of the most preferred forms of alternative real estate asset with the focus shifting to large hyperscale developments.

Approximately, $9.5 billion of capital is in various stages of being announced, committed or waiting to be committed into Indian data centres, the report said.

“Data centres as alternative real estate assets providing yield income to large infrastructure investors, and the creation of large platforms between operators on one hand and investors/developers on the other,” it added.

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