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Businesses Continue to Benefit from India’s Expanding Data Centre Scene

By: Eve Samuel

A 2022 report showed that Amazon Web Services (AWS) had plans to extend data centres into four regions of India within two years. These regions, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Delhi and Chennai, were part of AWS’s larger vision of reaching 32 such local areas in 26 countries by 2024.

Better Customer Experiences

By providing cloud services with near-zero latency, these data centres ensure that customers across different industries have greater experiences. Especially now that technological advancements are giving rise to products that require faster speeds to load, the need for such cloud services has become more apparent.

In the iGaming industry, for example, online platforms are increasingly including games with high-definition visuals in their portfolios to enhance their competitiveness. Variations like bingo slingo games will come with immersive graphics to improve their storylines and connect with players more. As these graphics might need more time to load, offering cloud services with no latency enhances players’ experience.

Bringing Data Centres Closer

Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure at AWS, stated that this move was part of their global initiative to push the edge of the cloud near populated areas, industries and IT centres. Data centres are often constructed far away from the city to minimise costs like electricity, tax, etc.

But this can comprise latency, a crucial philosophy in such a fast-paced world, while attempting to save on other costs. AWS’ vision to bring these centres closer then comes in as a solution for businesses to stay relevant in an age where every second counts.

In 2023, the company expressed intentions to invest $12.7 billion into India’s cloud infrastructure by 2030. By supporting about 131,700 full-time equivalent jobs, this investment is projected to increase India’s GDP by $23.3 billion by 2030. Amazon previously invested $3.7 billion between 2016 and 2022, impacting areas like workforce development, community engagement, etc.

More Investors Are Coming In

India’s data centre scene appears to hold great promise as more investors are drawn towards it. In early 2024, Adani Group, an Indian multinational company, announced that it would be investing $6bn toward data centre infrastructure in Maharashtra.

While the infrastructure was to utilise renewable energy, it was projected to provide direct and indirect employment opportunities to approximately 20,000. It was barely a week after Adani had pledged $24bn in Gujurat’s green and renewable energy sectors that it announced the Maharashtra deal.

Another company, Web Werks India, committed $2.4bn toward a data centre park in Bengaluru. In an X comment, Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah welcomed the initiative, stating they were ready to embrace it.

Despite not being active in India for a long time, Web Werks has already expressed its goal of becoming a significant player in India’s data scene. In May 2023, working with Iron Mountain, Web Werks launched a Hyderabad facility and followed it with a $170m investment in a Navi Mumbai data centre. Later, it purchased a four-acre land in Chennai to construct two 36MW data centre towers.

Overall, India’s burgeoning data centre scene will continue offering businesses a conducive environment to harness the benefits of digitalisation, enhance operational efficiency, and stay competitive in an increasingly data-driven world.