In the words of a top executive at Sify Technologies, the company will invest Rs 3,000 crore over the next five years to expand its data centre capacity across India. Sify currently has just over 100 MW of data centre capacity spread across six Indian cities: Mumbai, NCR region, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru. In the coming years, the company plans to add an impressive 350 MW of capacity.

Presently, three greenfield data centre projects are in the process of construction, boasting a combined design capacity of nearly 200 MW. The first of these, with a capacity of around 38 MW, is projected to be operational by October of this year. The remaining two projects, located in Noida and Chennai, each boasting a design capacity of 80 MW, are expected to come online by the end of this financial year.

Key factors such as data localization and cost efficiency are driving demand for data centres in India. M.P. Vijay Kumar, Executive Director and Group CFO of Sify, stated, "It makes no sense for content consumed in India to be hosted somewhere else where it travels all the way and returns every time." The information should be localised."

Two-thirds of Sify's capacity is dedicated to hyperscalers, with the remaining third dedicated to enterprise clients. The banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) sector is the most in demand for Sify's data centres, followed by e-commerce, media & entertainment, manufacturing, and retail. "All of these segments, including the government, are driving a significant portion of consumption in the country," Vijay Kumar explained.