STPI to play facilitator’s role for data centre entrepreneurs, investors

The post-COVID-19 situation was like the Y2K moment for the information and technology (IT) sector, industry, and startups to use the opportunity with the national data center and cloud policy said Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday.

Chandrasekhar consulted meet with the various stakeholders on the proposed center and policy here.

Briefing reporters later, he said the interaction went on for nearly four-and-a-half hours and was meaningful.

”Representatives of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana attended the meet. Tamil Nadu is very keen to attract investments in data centers and it is like the Y2K moment (for the industry a huge opportunity can be seized), he said.

Post-Y2K, India became one of the destinations in the information technology space for enterprises with quality talent and competitiveness.

Chandrasekhar said the aforesaid States were becoming hubs of data centers and electronics manufacturing.

According to Ministry officials, the country has around 499 MW of installed power capacity for data centers, and the growth in the projected data center capacity was expected to reach 2,000 MW by 2027.

Chandrasekhar said the State governments need to be proactive in attracting investments in the data center and cloud space. ”This National Data Centre and Cloud Policy aim to accelerate the growth of data centers and cloud services in the country. It encourages the usage of indigenous platforms in the data center and cloud operations,” he said.

On cyber security, he said about 80 crore citizens were using the internet and this would grow to 1.2 billion in the next few years.

”There will be more number of Indian startups in the cloud space,” he said, adding that the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), Tamil Nadu, would engage in the role of enabling entrepreneurs to set up data centers.

”To ensure this, States and the Union Territories shall publish the list of approvals, clearances required for operationalization of data centers in advance”, the police said.

The policy enables data centers to be recognized as a separate category under the National Building Code and the Ministry shall coordinate with the department of telecommunications to facilitate robust and cost-effective connectivity to the centers.

CT Bureau