The largest Hyperscale Data Center in India

The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister stated that the state fulfilled its goal of establishing 250 MW of storage capacity with an investment of Rs 20,000 crore within a year of initiating its data center program while officially opening north India's first hyperscale data center, "Yotta D1."

Yotta D1: What is it?

• Yotta D1, the largest data centre in the nation and the first in UP, was constructed at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore.
• It is situated in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, on a 3 lakh square foot plot of land in the future Data Center Park.
• Meaning: The data centre will improve the nation's data storage capacity, which up until now only stood at 2% even though Indians consume 20% of the world's data.
• Additionally, it is anticipated to greatly boost the Gross State Product (GSDP), open up new investment prospects, and generate a significant amount of job opportunities.
• Yotta D1 is very helpful for worldwide connection because it offers Internet peering exchanges and direct fibre connectivity to and from international cloud operators.
• Yotta D-1 will serve as the foundation for the 5G revolution in North India.
• By 2025, it is predicted that India's data analytics market will be worth more than $16 billion. Therefore, it is a step in the right direction to focus particularly on boosting investment in data center infrastructure.
• Big businesses like Google and Twitter would be able to establish a data center for hosting, processing, and storing data if a data park was there.
• Customers will have quick access to videos and financial services with the rollout of 5G and edge data centers from this center.

What is the data industry's growth story in India?

The effects of COVID-19

• The industry for data centres in India is currently worth USD 5.6 billion, and the exceptional COVID-19 issue gave the sector an unexpected boost.
• Globally, technology adoption and digitization across industries were accelerated, and in the last few years, India also made technological advancements of at least a decade.
• The lockdown and its restrictions served as a significant spur for digitalisation in a variety of industries, including banking, education, and retail.
• This resulted in a nationwide surge in data usage and internet bandwidth.
• NIC Data Centers: The National Informatics Centre (NIC) has established 37 minor Data Centers at various State Capitals in addition to four cutting-edge National Data Centers (NDCs) at NIC Headquarters in Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, and Bhubaneswar.
• Hyderabad hosted the opening of the first data center in 2008.
• By offering services to various e-Governance projects carried out by the Indian government, these NDCs serve as the backbone of the country's e-government infrastructure.
• In February 2021, the first NDC for the North Eastern Region (NEDC) had its cornerstone laid in Guwahati, Assam.

Present and Future Data Centers:

• There are currently 138 data centers (DCs) in India, with Mumbai and Chennai accounting for at least 57% of the nation's present IT capacity.
• Mumbai is the main location for colocation data centers in India, and due to its location towards the west coast and the numerous underwater cables that have arrived there, it has good connectivity to both the Middle East and Europe.
• In the next five years, investments of between Rs. 1.05 and Rs. 1.20 lakh crore are anticipated to enhance the capacity of the Indian DC industry by five times.
• Up to 45 additional data centres are expected to open in India by the end of 2025.
• Over 69% of the new supply for IT capacity (approximately 1,015 MW) is expected to be built in Mumbai and Chennai, with 51% of it in Mumbai alone.
• In India, there is also the possibility for an additional 2,688 MW of future unexpected supply.

Laws Regarding Data Centers:

• The National Policy Framework for Data Centers, which the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology wants to unveil soon, will include incentives worth up to Rs 15,000 crore.
• Additionally introduced in 2020 was a draught data centre policy.
• Some states, such as Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Odisha, do have their own state data centre policies.

Way Forward

• By 2025, India's digital economy has the potential to generate up to $1 trillion in economic value, and North India is currently a top choice for Fortune 500 corporations.
• As a result of ongoing investments in data centres and recognition of the region's potential and unmet data centre demand, the Digital India growth story will have a solid basis.
• Companies all over the world are reevaluating where they would like to put up their database and technological facilities, as well as where they would like to manufacture and distribute their products.
• Currently, data centres serve as a pivot point for many decisions, particularly in Asia Pacific and India.
• India has the capacity to launch new projects, but this capacity needs to be carefully released into the market to guarantee price stability.
• India has to lower power costs because electricity is one of the key operating expenses of a data centre if it wants to become one of the major hubs for data centres.
• Making ensuring that such DCs use as much renewable energy as possible is also crucial.