data centres

Investments in data centres is predicted to exceed by USD 10 billion over the next three years, according to the latest CII-Colliers report. This investment will be led by use of cloud computing, IoT and 5G as well as expanded internet access and government digitalisation programmes.

The report projected that 60 per cent of the new additions will be housed by Mumbai and Chennai over the next three years. Tier two cities will also experience consistent growth as businesses and startups establish bases there.

Investors are taking advantage of the data centre revolution brought on by national data localisation initiatives, attracted by the potential of steady returns and higher yields.

The report also highlighted that edge data centres offer a significant investment opportunity as the need for lower-latency computing increases. Due to India’s impending 5G adoption boom, major data centre providers are preparing to open a number of edge centres in the country.

This is likely to make edge data centres a top choice for investments, which will also help them gradually enter tier two cities. Since there is still a high demand for data centres in prime locations, developers are likely to adopt a land-banking strategy. They will be able to acquire land in key places for future projects thanks to this.

India has more than 880 million internet users, nearly twice as many as the United States and approximately 12 times as many as the United Kingdom. In contrast to the developed markets, India has a substantially lower ratio of data centre space per million internet users. After the pandemic, the market for data centres in India grew remarkably, bringing in roughly USD 7.0 billion in investments since 2020.