Who Will Have The Edge?
According to industry estimates, among the 30-plus players in the fragmented Indian data centre market, the top five are STT GDC, Equinix, NTT, Nxtra Data and Sify Technologies. Other major firms such as CtrlS, ESDS Software Solution, Go4hosting, Pi, Reliance, WebWerks and Yotta Infrastructure Solutions, along with smaller players, account for the remaining capacity.
Data centre operators which currently have large hyperscalers as their clients are bulking up capacities. For instance, Sify Technologies, which forayed into the business in 2000, currently runs 12 facilities across six metros, and plans to add close to 100MW in 2025. It is also looking to set up a campus in Bengaluru’s aerospace park. Since FY22, Kotak has invested $120 million through Kotak Special Situation Fund and Kotak Data Centre Fund in Sify Infinit Spaces (a wholly owned subsidiary of Sify Technologies) through compulsorily convertible debentures. The company runs mission-critical operations for over 600 customers, including major banks and hyperscalers.
Another major player is Singapore-headquartered ST Telemedia, whose global data centre business is spread across Southeast Asia, India and Europe. STT GDC India operates nearly 28 facilities across 10 cities.
“Design, support and trust, built through long-term relationships with clients, will give big players an advantage over new entrants,” says Sumit Mukhija, executive director and CEO, STT GDC India. “I still remember the first data centre deal handed over to me was a customer who came to us in 2003, when we were just a line of business for TCL. We still have them with us,” recalls Mukhija. The experience of delivering built-to-suit data centres with 5-10MW of capacity to hyperscalers where in-house teams, including IT, design, civil, structural, electrical and quality assurance manage the facility, plus a proven track record of uptime, have all become important while picking up the right provider. Today, conversations with operators range from the location of the centre to ownership of land to extent of customisation and contractual flexibility along with safety and security measures. Hence, if pricing is the only arbitrage that new entrants offer, it could work in the short term.
The next three-four years will be critical with huge capacity uptick and expected market growth, says Mukhija. “A lot of consolidation opportunities will emerge in the next three-five years and there will be seven-eight good data centre players as the digital backbone of the country,” he adds.
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Publish date : 2024-09-02 04:03:00
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