Princeton Digital Group to expand its footprint in India to become global data centre hub

CIOTechOutlook Team | Wednesday, 21 December 2022, 08:47 IST

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for India to become a hub for data centres has given the sector a boost, and Asia's top data centre provider Princeton Digital Group (PDG) has announced it is expanding its presence there to enable more Indian businesses to store their data locally in secure settings.

Princeton Digital Group, a Singapore-based company, has opened its MU1 data centre in Navi Mumbai, which will offer 48 MW of essential IT capacity.

As it constructs cutting-edge data centres, the business is here to address regulatory, cultural, and infrastructure problems, according to Vipin Shirsat, General Manager, India, Princeton Digital Group (PDG).

"After Navi Mumbai, we will expand our data centres across the country in years to come to cater to more Indian enterprises especially in the fields of core banking, digital payments and content," Shirsat stressed.

The $300 million MU1 project is spread on six acres of a larger IT campus in Airoli, Navi Mumbai.

The complex will provide hyperscalers—large cloud, content, commerce, and financial companies—with safe and scalable data centre capacit

India is on the verge of a data centre revolution, according to Shirsat, who has previously worked for The Tata Group, Bharti Airtel, and American Express.

"The digital transformation in the country has spurred the growth of physical data centres as organisations want data close to where they operate. The significant rise of data generation and use across a variety of industries has led to a rise in demand for data servers and data centres in the country," he explained.

India has more than a billion mobile phone customers and more than 700 million Internet users, and its usage of social media, digital entertainment, and business has all grown rapidly in recent years.

According to estimates, India's digital economy would increase from $200 billion in 2017–18 to a mind-boggling $1 trillion by 2025.

According to the draught Data Center Policy 2020, creating a friendly, competitive, and sustainable business environment is essential for the long-term growth of the nation's data centre industry.

The provision of consistent, pristine, and reasonably priced power for data centres is one of the main policy thrusts in this direction.

Other important areas include recognising data centres as a separate category under the National Building Code, declaring data centres to be essential services under The Essential Services Maintenance Act of 1968 (ESMA), creating Data Center Economic Zones, and fostering the growth of indigenous technology, research, and capacity.

With a presence in five countries and a portfolio of 20 data centres with a combined 600 MW capacity, Princeton Digital Group, which was founded in 2017, is the market leader in Asia's hyperscale data centre market.

"With a formidable team of highly-experienced data centre professionals, PDG has ambitious plans to scale and expand across India and is also committed to the cause of grooming young engineering talent into leaders of tomorrow," said Shirsat.

Up to 40% of the energy needed to run MU1 will come from renewable sources, and it will use very little water.

A report from ANAROCK-Binswanger states that around 45 data centres totaling 13 million square feet and 1,015 MW of IT capacity are expected to be built in India by 2025, spurred on by the rising demand.

By the end of 2025, the nation will have 183 data centres totaling 24 million square feet and 1,752 MW of total IT capacity.

In terms of IT capacity (almost 1,015 MW), the research had stated that over 69% of this proposed new supply will be built in Mumbai and Chennai, with 51% in Mumbai alone.

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