industry imaginable has kicked off rapid growth in India’s data centre industry. Projections hold steadfast in this regard—last month, individual reports by industry and real estate trackers JLL India and CBRE estimated separately that the data centre market in India, which currently has a net capacity of around 850MW across key operators and facilities, might nearly double to around 1.7GW by the end of 2026.
While these estimates are tall, it is understandable why they hold ground. Nascent Indian startups are eyeing the generative AI bandwagon to create and introduce large language models (LLMs) proficient in Indian languages and contexts. However, developing LLMs requires vast data combined with robust cloud services that are available ubiquitously across the industry. This, in turn, creates a roadmap for multiple established and small players to enter the industry and contribute to building India as a major data centre hub for Asia and the rest of the world.
With dedicated data privacy regulations, policies like the India AI Mission, and more, the country now has a favourable regulatory framework for global data centre operators to cater to the market. On this note, here is a look at some of India’s prominent data centre companies, what each offers today, and their plans for the near future.
ESDS Software Solutions
Year of commencement/registration: 2008
Total capacity: 5MW
Initially, a smaller data centre operator than many of its rivals, ESDS today has five facilities that offer niche facilities, including cloud platforms for migration, private cloud services, bundled cyber security and more to its enterprise clients. Today, the company has five facilities across Nashik, Bengaluru, Mohali and Mumbai. One of the essential things that ESDS promises is multiple high-bandwidth links between the data centre itself and the host clients, along with 100Gbps backbone links that serve as the primary network links for the company’s data centre. ESDS is a steady, reliable service provider with a growing presence across India.
