$10 billion has been invested in data centres in India since 2020, according to a report

According to real estate advisor Colliers India, investments in data centres have totaled USD 10 billion (about Rs 81,247 crore) since 2020 as demand for such facilities has increased due to a dramatic increase in data consumption.

The consultancy predicted that India's data centre stock would likely double to roughly 20 million square feet by 2025 from its current capacity of 10.3 million square feet in its paper titled "Data Center: Scaling up in Green age."

Currently, India's top seven cities — Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, and Kolkata — collectively have around 770 MW of data centre capacity.

"The tremendous boom in data consumption caused by digitalisation, increased cloud use, etc. over the past two years has been driving India's data centre growth. Data centre operators are also encouraged by the advantages offered by several states, such as subsidised land, stamp tax exemption, etc "The declaration said.

Mumbai has the highest percentage of data centres (49) thanks to the availability of a landing station and submarine cable connectivity.

Bengaluru is second in terms of data centre capacity, with Delhi-NCR holding about 17% of the total.

"Since 2020, data centres have experienced a surge in cooperation between developers and international operators and have attracted a total of USD 10 billion in investments. Investors include corporations, real estate developers, private equity funds, and international data centre operators wanting to expand into India "says Colliers.

Investments in the sector have increased over the past two to three years as a result of rising data consumption and supportive government regulations, it noted.

"Since data centres require a lot of capital, long-term investors are interested in this asset class. Even if the cost of real estate is only about 25%, there are many opportunities for investors and developers in this area. Making data centres more sustainable is also more important than ever" CEO of Colliers India Ramesh said.

Only 22% of the stock of active data centres is currently LEED-certified, he continued.

"In order to minimise their environmental impact and achieve maximum efficiency, international operators are spending more and more in low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies. The next significant opportunity in India is edge data centres, which enable the sustainable transition of data centres by having a lesser environmental impact and using less energy "added Nair.

Tier-II cities are gaining ground, yet metro areas continue to be the primary locations for data centres. Only 3% of India's total data centre stock is now located in Tier-II cities.

Important data centre operators are, however, considering towns like Vijayawada, Nagpur, Raipur, Kochi, Patna, and Mangalore as viable sites for establishing edge data centres and as disaster recovery sites.