Sachin Bhalla, VP and Country General Manager, Secure Power Division, Schneider Electric India and SAARC, shares his perspective on the impact of the Union Budget on the growing data center industry, and how this bears promise for the enterprise technology industry at large
“The growth and prowess witnessed in the data center market across the country presents enormous opportunities for businesses and industries alike to reap scalable benefits and drive growth and profit in tandem. The Union Budget 2022 presented by the honourable Finance Minister to grant infrastructure status to data centers and energy storage systems in order to facilitate financing for the industry is a step in the right direction. This intervention will be instrumental for the sector as it advances towards harnessing its increased potential and technological advancements. As we enter the new era of Digital India, we must focus on recognising, addressing, and overcoming environmental challenges, as well as developing a blueprint for navigating the future of sustainable data centre solutions. According to research conducted by JLL, the capacity of India’s colocation data center industry is expected to double by next year; 2023. This in turn, would necessitate the requirement for more than five million square feet of real estate to empower the burgeoning industry. Today’s announcement puts data center development at par with other major sectors in terms of access to long-term and low-cost credit, thereby accelerating efforts towards data localization. We will continue to align with the Government of India’s landmark Aatmanirbhar Bharat vision to promote conscious, clean, and sustainable technology solutions that are self-sufficient and driven by innovation. The solutions that we devise today will shape our future tomorrow as we envision and redefine resilience and operational excellence powered by cutting-edge technologies in data center operations of the future.”
