 "Data centres")
Sify Technologies will invest Rs 3,000 crore to expand its data centre capacity across India over the next five years, according to a top executive at the company. Its current data centre capacity stands at a little over 100 Mw, which it operates through 11 facilities in six cities/region: Mumbai, NCR, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru.
The company has set its sights on adding 350 Mw of capacity in the coming years.
Currently, three greenfield data centre projects are under construction with a design capacity of close to 200 Mw. The first one, with a capacity of about 38 Mw, is expected to be operational in October this year. The remaining two projects in Noida and Chennai, with a design capacity of 80 Mw each, are expected to become online by the end of this financial year.
Data localisation and cost efficiency are among the key factors driving demand for data centres in India. “There is no point for content which is consumed in India to get hosted somewhere else where it goes all the way and comes back every time. The data should be localised,” said M P Vijay Kumar, executive director and group CFO of Sify.
Two-thirds of Sify’s capacity serves hyper scalers and one-third is with enterprise clients. The banking, financial services & insurance (BFSI) sector drives demand for Sify’s data centres, followed by verticals like e-commerce, media & entertainment, manufacturing, and retail. “All of these segments, including the government, are driving a significant portion of consumption in the country,” said Vijay Kumar.
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The data centre market is booming in India as enterprises migrate to the cloud which, in turn, has pushed increased investments in hyperscale data centres. According to Nasscom, global data centre market investments are expected to reach $200 billion per annum by 2025 and India is expected to get a share in this growth with investments in the country expected to reach approximately $5 billion per annum in two years.
As of March 31, Sify’s revenue stood at Rs 3,340.40 crore, an increase of 24 per cent from the previous year. Of total revenues, 30 per cent is from its data centre colocation services, 30 per cent from its digital services, and 40 per cent from its network services.
Sify's journey began in 1998 as India’s inaugural internet service provider, overseeing about 6,000 cyber cafes nationwide. However, with the rise of new technologies, major global internet giants like Google and Yahoo emerged, prompting Sify to shift its trajectory around 2012 to become an enterprise IT infrastructure and services company.
Sify in India competes with players like NTT Global, CtrlS, STT Global Data Centres, and Nxtra by Airtel. NTT Global has 16 facilities in India with a total capacity of about 204 Mw. CtrlS operates 10 data centres in India across five cities with a total capacity of about 120 Mw. STT currently has 24 data centres across nine cities with a capacity of 250 Mw, while Nxtra by Airtel has 12 large and 120 edge data centres with a total capacity of about 200 Mw.
