ST Telemedia Global Data Centres India (STT GDC India) will invest Rs 1,100 crore to develop a data centre in Noida, said a top company executive.
The company had leased 360,000 sq ft in the middle of the pandemic at the upcoming Noida IT Park being developed by realty major DLF.
The real estate major said construction of the facility is on and they will handover the building by December 2021.
STT GDC India has started the back-end work of the new greenfield data centre facility, STT NoidaDC-1, as part of its multi-megawatt capacity expansion plan across India.
Phase 1 of this facility will offer up to 18 MW of critical IT load and is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2022. It will be one of the largest data centres in northern India. The project will add up to 35 MW of critical IT load to STT GDCIndia's total IT capacity
"The STT Noida facility, once fully built, can support up to 35 MW IT power capacity spread across five acres of land,” said Sumit Mukhija, CEO at STT GDC India. “Our decision to expand in Noida is driven by the continuing rapid growth in the Indian data centre industry, supporting the massive digital transformation that the country is experiencing.”
The facility will be developed in two phases and enable both enterprises and hyperscale customers to future-proof their expansion options in the northern region.
“The promise of Noida emerging as a new data centre hub is well supported by progressive policy impetus at both the central and state governments,” said Mukhija.
The data centre colocation market in India is poised to grow rapidly and reach more than 1,000 MW in operational capacity by 2025.
At the current pace, STT GDC India expects to double the capacity every three to four years over the next 10 years.
Recently, Japanese technology firm NTT Ltd has acquired six acres in Greater Noida to set up a data centre with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.
According to the Greater Noida Authority, the plan is to develop the region into a data centre hub. This was the second transaction after Mumbai-based Hiranandani Group’s Yotta Infrastructure said it would set up a 20-acre data centre park in Greater Noida with an investment of Rs 7,000 crore.
The Uttar Pradesh government is also formulating a policy to attract data centre builders to Noida, seeking to draw investments away from preferred destinations such as Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai.
In a bid to be cost-competitive, the policy will include benefits such as uninterrupted power supply and permission to build without underground parking.
India’s data centre capacity, as measured in terms of power load, is expected to almost triple to 1,078 MW by 2025 from 375 MW in H1 2020, presenting a $4.9 billion investment opportunity, Jones Lang LaSalle said in a report in September.
Mumbai and Chennai will account for a 70% share of the capacity additions, JLL said.