00:00There are many factors. The last 7-8 years, a lot of push has come on the digital side.
00:13Like the shift of e-commerce from offline to online, Jio's low-cost telecom plan had mobile telecommunication.
00:29So there are all these factors. Even the government had announced the data protection policy.
00:35All data of Indian consumers have to be stored in India.
00:39So these were some points because of which all the cloud companies like Amazon, Google,
00:44they started looking at India so that they can store the Indian data in India itself.
00:49So the scale just increased completely.
00:52And this has primarily been the reason why this boom has been going on for the last 7 years.
01:01Till now, the data centers coming to India are primarily for cloud.
01:05Data storage like email and social media is for processing and storage.
01:12But now the trend is of AI.
01:15So what we are seeing in America, it's all an AI game.
01:18And because of AI, there has been a significant growth in demand in the US.
01:23Same trend will come into India as well.
01:26It hasn't started yet, but the banks and financial institutions are already factoring that
01:36they will need this much AI storage and computing.
01:40So they are already planning for that.
01:42And they are going in for mega facilities.
01:45So that change is coming.
01:46It will take about 2 years for us to see that demand coming in full form.
01:51But now the talk has started, planning has started.
01:56So it will come in the next 1-2 years.
01:59Government policy was announcing the same at the national level, the data center policy.
02:05It is still in the draft.
02:07It hasn't been implemented yet.
02:09The government support and regulations that we are seeing,
02:14the state governments have subsidized their own IT policies or data center policies.
02:22Or they have given stamp duty exemptions.
02:25So the benefits that we are getting from there,
02:27that is the initiative of the state government.
02:31Like we are seeing Hyderabad, Telangana government, Tamil Nadu government, Maharashtra government,
02:36Uttar Pradesh government, Karnataka government,
02:39they are pushing a lot to get data center investments.
02:42Unfortunately, the central government hasn't pushed that much yet.
02:47There is an awareness that we need to do more.
02:50But it hasn't been converted into action yet.
02:53And I think the central government should also start working a little more.
02:56Because we are seeing that there is a lot of competition in Asia Pacific.
03:01Like Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand.
03:05These small Southeast Asian countries are becoming tough competitors.
03:09So India to get its geographical advantage or population advantage,
03:15that the central government should work on and try to push.
03:20And how to capitalize on India.
03:23Actually, this data boom has been going on for the last 10 years.
03:28Before that, the data centers were very small.
03:32And there was not much storage in India.
03:35All the data of India was stored in the US or Singapore or Ireland.
03:41So there was no opportunity before.
03:44But the digital India push that the Modi government has done,
03:50we have got a lot of benefits from it.
03:54And primarily, the data sovereignty that every country is bringing.
03:59Their data should be stored there.
04:01Data in privacy laws.
04:04So that has really helped India.
04:07So I wouldn't say government to government.
04:10But time has evolved.
04:11And as the demand has increased, we have taken advantage of that.
04:15We will definitely see the benefits.
04:19State governments, for example, the Chennai government, Tamil Nadu government,
04:25just now they did a big data center park tie-up.
04:31So they are kind of giving the benefits.
04:35They are inviting them.
04:37They are very warm.
04:38Like before, there was not so much.
04:40When we go to the government and ask for some business benefits,
04:44there was not so much.
04:45But now they are very proactive.
04:47They are coming in front and saying, you are our state.
04:50We will give you benefits.
04:51You have issues.
04:52Land acquisition is not approved.
04:54We will give you a single window clearing.
04:57It encourages a lot.
04:59For example, Hyderabad.
05:01There is no cable landing station there.
05:04But the government gave a single window clearing.
05:07Land provision was done with power.
05:10So they have benefited a lot.
05:12And Hyderabad has now become a data center hub availability zone.
05:16Like the state government,
05:18they are giving initiatives.
05:20They are giving a lot of benefits.
05:21So, sustainability, the main thing is renewables.
05:24Because power is the biggest importance of a data center.
05:28Power and cooling.
05:29This is a very prime infrastructure.
05:32So, a lot of data centers are in the US now.
05:36Hyper scalers like Amazon, Google, Microsoft.
05:39They are striving to be 100% green data centers.
05:42In India, the infrastructure is not 100% strong.
05:47But whatever is being planned,
05:49at least 50-60% green, clean power source
05:54can be used in the airport.
05:57Hopefully, as the transmission line gets stronger,
06:02there are no transmission losses,
06:04the grid infrastructure is better.
06:06So, we can also look at going up to 100% green power.
06:09Primarily, the focus on data centers,
06:11sustainability is on green power.
06:13A lot of other ancillary sustainability aspects,
06:16like water.
06:18Because water has a lot of influence in cooling.
06:20So, water management, waste management.
06:22All this will start coming.
06:25People are not focusing so much on it.
06:27But as soon as there is a power cut,
06:29there is no plan B.
06:31So, step by step,
06:32we will move towards more sustainability aspects.
06:35But in India,
06:37the approach towards sustainability
06:42is mainly to source the adequate amount of green energy.
06:45Because it is challenging.
06:47There is no continuity.
06:49Like solar,
06:51it is not available day and night.
06:53It has to be stored.
06:55There is a cost.
06:56So, there are issues of intermittency.
06:58So, the government has just announced nuclear reactors.
07:02The small nuclear reactors.
07:04It is a game-changer.
07:05Because the nuclear reactors
07:07produce a lot of power with very less resources.
07:10And that's absolutely green energy.
07:12So, those could be some really good benefits.
07:14Global cloud service operators are actually customers.
07:18So, like the data centers,
07:21they build their own data centers.
07:23They don't take space in other data centers.
07:26So, global cloud companies
07:28like Google, Amazon, Microsoft,
07:30they also take spaces across different operators.
07:33So, their relationships will be in the US.
07:36But in India,
07:38they have made very good relationships.
07:40Like, there is Intel SLC,
07:42there is Nextra.
07:44And a lot of Indian operators
07:46who have been here from the beginning,
07:48they have got a good track record
07:51that they can operate good facilities
07:53at a higher scale.
07:55So, they have definitely been,
07:58I would say,
08:00tough competitors to global operators as well
08:02who are coming in.
08:04It hasn't happened that global operators
08:07have come to India
08:08and then they have kind of got the best practices
08:10and the Indian operators are not able to catch up.
08:13It hasn't happened like that.
08:14There are those three, four...
08:15Basically, the data center industry
08:17is very small in India.
08:19Like, in all, there are 17 operators.
08:21In that, Indian operators will be about
08:23five or six Indian operators only.
08:26And they have built good world-class facilities.
08:32India.
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