With data consumption exploding in the country, the Chennai-based Sify Technologies is pumping in around ₹9,000 crore in the next five-six years on greenfield data centre projects. This will raise its data centre capacity from the current 100 MW to 350 MW.
The company is investing ₹3,000 crore in the ongoing projects, while in new projects coming up in Chennai, Mumbai, Noida and Bengaluru, slated to start early next year, it will invest another ₹3,000 crore, said MP Vijay Kumar, Executive Director and Group CFO, Sify Technologies.
Future expansion
Another phase of expansion will be taken up beyond 2026 with an investment of ₹3,000 crore, he told businessline.
“We have been focusing on investing in the growth and expansion of data centres across the country. Sify’s current data centre capacity stands at 100 MW through its 11 facilities across India, and the company plans to add 350 MW in the next few years in Chennai, Mumbai and Noida,” he said.
For the next 100 MW under construction, Sify has a total investment commitment of ₹3,000 crore, of which it has equity partnership with Kotak Managed Data Centre fund for about ₹1,600 crore, including ₹1,000 crore drawn to date. Sify has also lined up bank credit for about ₹1,200 crore; the rest will be funded out of internal approvals, he said.
“We have done the financial closures for the first phase of expansion. For other capacities, we will finalise the financial requirements in the next six months. For the next phase of growth, the company has an option to draw additional capital from Kotak along with internal accruals,” he said.
Infrastructure status
Given the fact that the data centre sector is now recognised as an infrastructure industry, it opens up new opportunities to raise long-term capital and probably at relatively lower cost as well.
India has a growing data centre industry. Data Centres are used for national security, internet infrastructure, and economic output. As of 2022, India’s data centre capacity is at 637 MW, which is expected to be 1318 MW by 2024.
The data centre industry is valued at $1.2 billion in 2021, a 216 per cent growth from $385 million in 2014. The number of data centres in India is 138, as of March 2022. India ranks 13th globally in terms of highest number of data centres.
Published on October 3, 2023
