Data Center Market in India - Industry Outlook and Forecast 2021-2026

INDIA DATA CENTER INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

The India data center market size was estimated at USD 4.4. billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 8 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 12% during the forecast period. The Indian data center market is witnessing significant investment from colocation service providers due to high demand from BFSI, logistics, transportation, e-commerce, and government agencies. fueled by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Several global colocation and data center service providers have been shown a tremendous inclination toward the Indian data center market, which is likely to contribute to the market growth. For instance, in August 2020, Equinix entered India with GPX Global Systems' acquisition in Mumbai, which is likely to close by Q2 2021. In December 2020, Adani Group announced to set up a hyperscale data center facility with an investment of around $340 million in Chennai. The company had partnered with the global colocation service provider, EdgeConneX, to build and operate 1 GW of data center campuses across the country, powered by renewable energy power plants in India. Government agencies and enterprises are setting up their own data centers in India. The deployment of on-premises infrastructure solutions continues to grow in the market. The National Payments Corporation of India, State Bank of India, National Payments Corporation of India, and Information Technology Department Tamil Nadu are investing in their self-built facilities in the country. 

SNIPPETS

• In November 2020, the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) drafted a data center policy in India, which is likely to significantly impact the growth of the data center industry during the forecast period.
• The India data center market observes multiple new entrants such as Colt DCS, Bridge Data Centres, Mantra Data Centers, AdaniConneX, and Equinix, driven by strong growth in internet users and proposed data protection laws.
• In September 2020, NTT Global Data Centers (Netmagic) announced its plans to invest $2 billion in developing new facilities across India.
• Yotta Infrastructure has commenced developing hyperscale facilities in Chennai (240 MW) and Delhi (200 MW).
• The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic will act as a catalyst for the data center growth in India, with enterprises increasingly migrating on-premises workloads to colocation facilities.
• Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana offer tax incentives for data center development, increasing market competitiveness among states in attracting hyperscale facility investments.
• All-flash and hybrid storage arrays will likely dominate the storage systems market with growth in high load applications.
• The rack power density is expected to grow from 6−8 kW to 13−15 kW due to the increased HPC infrastructure deployment during the forecast period.

INDIA DATA CENTER MARKET SEGMENTATION

This research report includes a detailed segmentation by:

• IT Infrastructure 
• Electrical Infrastructure 
• Mechanical Infrastructure
• Cooling Systems
• General Construction    
• Tier Standards 
• Geography 

INSIGHTS BY IT INFRASTRUCTURE

The demand for servers suitable for cloud and big analytics workload is expected to grow during the forecast period. The adoption of converged and hyper-converged infrastructure solutions is likely to influence the market growth during the forecast period. Enterprises are likely to prefer servers that reduce space in the data center environment without affecting performance. The market is expected to witness the growth of white-box server systems as enterprises are keen to adopt server infrastructure based on open community designs (OCP).

In 2020, the increased adoption of all-flash storage arrays, along with a sizable contribution from hybrid storage arrays, drove the storage systems market. High-performance operations aid the growth of flash storage systems in data centers that require strong I/O capabilities. The deployment of AI and machine learning workloads will grow across. 

INSIGHTS BY ELECTRICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The procurement of lithium-ion UPS solutions is likely to be high among colocation providers. Modular operators are likely to promote less than 500 kW lithium-ion UPS systems. The adoption of single-rack prefabricated solutions will include single-phase lithium-ion systems with a power capacity of less than 10 kVA. There is a growing interest among large and mega facilities to procure UPS systems of more than 750 kVA. However, small and medium facilities are procuring UPS systems with a capacity of less than 500 kVA. Moreover, the growing rack power density and the need to provide high availability services are expected to increase UPS systems' importance across India.

The data center generator market in India is likely to grow because of the unreliability in grid supply, resulting in multiple data center outages. The market is likely to witness the use of Diesel Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supply (DRUPS) systems, which combine both battery and flywheel UPS topology and a diesel generator to provide backup power during outages is goring as they are highly reliable, efficient, and require low maintenance. The Indian data center market observes the adoption of high-capacity generator systems as they aid in space optimization. 

INSIGHTS BY MECHANICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The use of air-based cooling dominates the Indian data center market share with over 90% shares. The scarcity of water in the major metropolitan cities is expected to pose challenges for the growth of the market's water-based cooling technique. The construction of facilities with a power capacity of over 10 MW is expected to contribute to the growth of cooling solutions in the market. Most facilities in India have a flexible design that allows the use of up to 52U rack sizes. The rack market is expected to grow with the rise in the OCP-ready space as a number of cloud-based and internet-based service providers are considering adopting OCP architecture-based IT infrastructure systems. The use of CRAC units is higher among India's facilities, and most facilities use air-based cooling systems. Most facilities operating in colder climatic conditions adopt free cooling chillers with smart technology to enable operations based on the temperature outside. 

INSIGHTS BY GENERAL CONSTRUCTION

The data center market in India has a strong presence of construction contractors and sub-contractors. Sterling and Wilson and L&T Construction are among the leading contractors in the market. These providers can perform installation and commissioning services. Thus, the increasing construction of new facilities is likely to influence multiple global construction contractors to enter the market. Installation and commissioning services are essential aspects of data center development. Several Tier III and Tier IV facilities in India are certified by the Uptime Institute for design, construction, and operational stability. This is commonly needed for colocation service providers to attract customers for their service offerings. 

INSIGHTS BY TIER STANDARDS

According to the Uptime Institute, the total number of certified data centers is around 35 in 13 states across India, including local and global facilities. The number of Tier III certified data centers is higher than Tier IV and Tier II. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, and Gujarat are the major states with certified facilities. In India, several under-developed projects fall under the Tier III category. This trend is likely to continue during the forecast period. Many operators expected to shift to the Tier IV category with the rack power density and critical applications. According to the uptime institute, there are five data center facilities in India situated in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. 

INSIGHTS BY GEOGRAPHY

Maharashtra is a major data center development destination in India. Mumbai is the leading city for data center development, followed by Chennai. AWS, Microsoft, Alibaba, and Google have a physical presence in Mumbai. Colt DCS is developing the largest data center in Mumbai, with a total power capacity of over 100 MW. Favorable government incentives and high IT connectivity are the major factors influencing data center development in Maharastra. Mumbai is a major location with high submarine cable deployments that connect to key markets and regions across the world. In April 2020, Google announced an investment of around $400 million in Blue-Raman cable deployment, which connects India with Israel and Italy. 

INSIGHTS BY VENDORS

The Indian data center market consists of several IT, electrical, and mechanical infrastructure providers. Arista Networks, Atos, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Dell Technologies, Caterpillar, Schneider Electric, Vertiv, and Cummins are some major IT and support infrastructure providers. Infrastructure vendors are likely to offer innovative products that reduce power consumption and improve efficiency during the forecast period. The market is also likely to witness high demand for UPS and generators of varied capacities in small, medium, and large data centers. The demand for high-capacity systems with 2N redundant configuration is expected to increase over the next few years. The Indian data center market is witnessing intense competition among local service providers as several operators are rapidly expanding their operations. New market entrants are offering tough competition to established players. 

The India data center market research report includes in-depth coverage of the industry analysis with revenue and forecast insights for the following segments: 

By IT Infrastructure 

• Servers
• Storage
• Network

By Electrical Infrastructure 

• UPS Systems
• Generators
• Transfer Switches and Switchgears
• PDUs
• Other Electrical Infrastructures

By Mechanical Infrastructure

• Cooling Systems
  • CRAC & CRAH Units
  • Chiller Units
  • Cooling Towers, Dry Coolers, & Condensers
  • Other Cooling Units
• Racks
• Others Mechanical Infrastructure

By General Construction    

• Core and Shell Development
• Installation and Commissioning Services
• Engineering and Building Designs
• Physical Security
• DCIM/BMS

By Tier Standards 

• Tier I & II
• Tier III
• Tier IV

By Geography

• India
• Maharashtra
• Tamil Nadu
• Other States