Steep rise in Mumbai's data centre capacity

Mumbai: Mumbai has recorded sharpest increase in data centre capacity in the Asia Pacific region, adding 56MW in the first quarter this year, a report showed on Tuesday.

Mumbai now has total data centre capacity at 753MW. The digital push from the pandemic has resulted in acceleration of data centre supply in Mumbai.

Pandemic influenced push for digital services resulted into an acceleration of new supply in 2020 with an additional 252MW or 50 per cent added to its development pipeline, according to international property consultants Knight Frank.

This marked up the total supply to 697MW in the year 2020. Between 2016 and 2019, Mumbai's IT power capacity increased from 148MW to 456MW, said the report published in partnership with data centre research and analytics platform DC Byte.

"Mumbai is among the better-established data centre hubs in the APAC region. The city's location has a strategic importance as a landing destination for undersea data-cables connecting the east and west," said Shishir Baijal, Chairman and Managing Director of Knight Frank India.

"The rise of emerging markets in APAC has brought Mumbai under the focus of multiple international operators, who wish to establish themselves in this region," he added.

Expansion in other markets in India, notably Chennai, is also gaining attention. In Asia Pacific markets, total supply increased by about 200MW in Q1 2021, reflecting a similar pace to 2020 take up -- recorded just over 800MW, making a total supply of 5800MW across the region.

"Cloud companies are continuing to develop a substantial cloud network in Mumbai, which is aided by an ongoing stream of demand. This has facilitated the creation of multiple new hyper-wholesale colocation facilities. The increased supply can provide plenty of opportunity for creating a rise in take-up in the near future," the report noted.