NTT not keen on more data centre buyouts in India: CEO

Mumbai: Japan's NTT Data, India's largest data centre operator, is not keen to acquire any asset in the country and will focus on growing capacities organically going forward, a top official said on Monday. The company, which had acquired Netamagic in 2012 to establish itself as a formidable name in the then nascent data centre business, would rather focus on acquiring startups with unique capabilities to serve its clients better, its chief executive Abhijit Dubey told reporters here. "We will not be a player in the consolidation game. We have one of the longest-standing and largest platforms already in India. So we're not going to be consolidating others into that," Dubey said.

He was replying to a specific question on whether it will be a player on likely consolidation if it were to happen, given the challenges being faced by players including delivering on commitments and also the data consumption explosion in the country. Dubey said he plans the earlier outlined plan of investing around $500 million per year continuing in the medium term and added that it may also accelerate it.

Parent entity NTT's chief executive Akira Shimada said the group sees a wealth of opportunities in India and will continue to invest in the market. NTT has 40,000 employees in the country, and has invested $3 billion in the data centre business over the years, which employs 700 people, company officials said. It is serving 3,000 Indian clients through its 290 MW commissioned data centre capacity, which is likely to rise to 500 MW soon, NTT Data's India chief executive Avinash Joshi said.

The company is also set to commission the 8,100 km subsea cable connecting India with southeast Asia for which it has invested $400 million. Joshi also said that the company looks at the expansion of Global Capability Centres in the country as a good opportunity, and added that it sees the number of such units increasing to 2,500 by 2030 from the present level of over 1,700.