Data Centre investment touches $6.5 billion in last 10 years: Study
Amid growing demand for cloud storage in the wake-up AI wave, investment in the data centres in India has grown manifold over the years
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Bengaluru, 24 March: Amid growing demand for cloud storage in the wake-up AI wave, investment in the data centres in India has grown manifold over the years.
According to real estate consultancy firm- ANAROCK, India’s data centre industry has over $6.5 billion in investments committed through private equity, joint ventures, and acquisitions between 2014 and 2024 period.
On the back of these investments, the industry has seen a surge in data centre capacity. According to the report by ANAROCK, there has been a 139 per cent increase in capacity during 2019-2024 period. From 590 MW, data centre capacity has increased t0 1.4 GW in 2024.
"This surge is underpinned by rising internet penetration, which has risen from 33.4 per cent in 2019 to 55.2 per cent in 2024, a near-doubling in data consumption per user from 11.5 GB to 21.1 GB per month, and an explosion in average traffic per smartphone, which grew from 13 GB to 32 GB. India now leads globally in average mobile data traffic per smartphone, and just this fact alone has had a palpable impact on the demand for high-grade data centres in the country. India's booming digital engagement is a direct indicator of future DC (data centre) demand," Devi Shankar, Executive Director - Industrial, Logistics & Data Centres, ANAROCK Capital said.
Currently, Mumbai and Chennai dominate the DC market, accounting for 70 per cent of India’s total IT power capacity, with Mumbai alone contributing nearly half at 49 per cent, the report showed.
However, other cities are fast catching up as cloud hyperscalers are aggressively acquiring land for setting up such data centres.
Over the past five years, around 440 acres of land have been acquired for the creation of hyperscalers across three major cities. Hyderabad leads the way with 69 per cent of such acquisition, while Mumbai has seen 22 per cent of such land buying. Pune has seen 9 per cent of such land acquisition.
"The size of India’s DC industry is currently estimated at $10 billion, with $1.2 billion in revenue for FY24," said Shobhit Agarwal, MD & CEO – ANAROCK Capital.
"Notably, 78 per cent of the revenue is generated by four major DC operators. While EBITDA growth showed signs of plateauing post-2020, it is projected to rise by 50-55 per cent as under-construction projects reach stabilization," he added.
