Indian Government Wants Infrastructure Status for Data Centres – Budget 2022

News February 1st 2022

Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the Union Budget 2022-23 announced infrastructure for data centers and energy storage systems. This announcement was made in order to provide easy financing to the information technology (IT) sector.

Ms. Nirmala said that an expert committee will be set up to propose measures for attracting investments. The move is appreciated by the stakeholders saying that it is progressive. 

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The Reactions 

CMD of the Hiranandani Group, Niranjan Hiranandani said, “As we transit in the age of Digital India, granting infrastructure status to data centers is shot in the arm. It brings data centers development at par with other major sectors to avail long-term and cheap credit, bolster data localization in wake of protection of data sovereignty in the age of globalization. This progressive step will enable India to become a global data center hub with favorable geographical location, availability of skilled resources, and establishing enhanced connectivity.”

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What’s In Store For Data Centers

India’s colocation data center (DC) industry is anticipated to double its capacity from 499 megawatts (MW) IT load in H1 2021 to 1,008 MW by 2023. In turn, this would lead to the need for over five million sq ft of infrastructure, as said by the JLL research. 

It is expected that Chennai and Mumbai would be the leading DC hubs due to assured undersea cable landings, power supply, and large user markets.