Cable landing stations, secured power supply and state incentives led to Mumbai driving space.
Mumbai saw the highest capacity addition in H1 2020, as it continues to be the preferred choice for large cloud players, according to JLL’s report H1 2020’re (Imagine) Data Centers Running India’s Digital Economy.’ The city also accounts for 62% of India’s total cloud capacity, followed by Pune and Chennai. Furthermore, due to its infrastructural benefits, It continues to manage the company demand premium, followed by Hyderabad and Chennai. In addition, the city is expected to witness the highest capacity addition of ~360 MW in 2020-2025, followed by Chennai with an additional capacity of 134 MW.
India’s data center capacity is expected to increase from 375 MW in H1 2020 to 1,078 MW by 2025, providing USD 4.9 billion of investment opportunities. According to JLL ‘s report H1 2020 ‘(re) Imagine Data Centers Running India’s Digital Economy,The impact of data protection law, the increased shift from captive to coloning (colo) data canters and the implementation of new technologies such as 5 G, edge computing and the Internet of Things ( IoT) will drive sustained investor demand for this asset class over the next five years.
“India’s data center market will outperform over the next five years, supported by a combination of a growing digital economy, increased investor interest and stable long-term returns. Growth in the sector will be further boosted by locations which, through lower upfront costs, increased data security, uninterrupted services and scalability, will further, Influence investors to re-imagine the potential of India’s data canter space. “Karan Singh Sodi, Regional Managing Director – Mumbai, JLL India.
The data canter industry in India provided a tremendous boost to the digital economy in the H1 2020 period. Daily data consumption increased from an average of 270 petabytes (PB) during the pre-lock period to an average of 308 PB post-lock period with an increase of 14 percent.
Data consumption increased by 12 per cent in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, while data consumption increased by 7 per cent in Maharashtra, the highest data consumer. In terms of total additional capacity, there was an 8 per cent increase in H1 2020, taking India’s total colocation capacity to 375 MW. H1 2020 witnessed an additional supply of 27 MW, which is 56% of the total addition seen in 2019 (48 MW). Mumbai continued to lead with an additional 19 MW, followed by Bengaluru at 5 MW and Delhi NCR at 3 MW.
“As a result of the transition from home arrangements to work during the lockdown, the country’s data center industry has become the backbone of the digital economy and has ensured a level of business continuity and sustained large portions of the country’s education system. Given changes in the economy, we will continue to see data consumption increase manifold for the foreseeable future,” said Rachit Mohan, India Head, Data Center Advisory, JLL.
The dependence of a number of industries on digital infrastructure has partially helped to mitigate the impact of the lockdown, as IT / ITeS, banking and financial services, e-commerce, capital markets, social media and education remained operational.
“Mumbai is expected to see the highest capacity addition, as it continues to be the preferred choice for large cloud players due to its infrastructure advantage. Chennai is also proving to be an attractive destination due to its advantages of submarine cable landing stations and low development costs, “says Dr Samantak Das, Chief Economist and Head of Research & REIS, JLL India.
The data centre industry in India is therefore expected to travel through an interesting transition phase in terms of operators, locations and technology as the world’s second-largest data subscriber population is increasingly adapting to the new digital world.
