JLL predicts growth for Indian data centres

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Data Centres & Networks; 24 August 2020; 3537 views

There’s a bright future ahead for Indian data centres according to JLL, a leader in real estate services.

The company, which buys, builds, occupy and invests in a variety of assets including industrial, commercial, retail, residential and hotel real estate, has recently published a report called (re)imagine Data Centres: Running India’s Digital Economy.

The report suggests that while most of the manufacturing sector, barring essential services, came to a standstill during the recent Indian lockdown, those delivering services through digital media were able to continue their operations due to the seamless support provided by the data centre industry.

The report also notes that the data centre industry took centre stage by providing support to industries and institutions as well as individuals affected by the ongoing crisis. The growing dependence of several industries on this digital infrastructure helped to mitigate the impact of the lockdown. In other words, industries such as IT/ITeS, BFSI, e-commerce, capital markets, social media and education remained operational, partly thanks to India’s 375 megawatt capacity.

It goes on to suggest that the impact of data protection laws, an increased shift from captive to colocation data centres and implementation of new technologies like 5G, edge computing and the internet of things will drive the next phase of demand for data centres. The Indian data centre industry’s capacity is expected to grow to 1,078 MW by 2025 from 375 MW in H1 2020, registering a CAGR of 21 percent.

Mumbai and Chennai are expected to lead data centre industry growth – which would benefit real estate developers and investors as well as telecoms and IT companies – due to their advantages in terms of connectivity, power supply and user industry.