Adani, Hiranandani groups to invest Rs 10,000 crore in UP data centres

The Adani and Hiranandani groups are among top companies looking to invest Rs 10,000 crore to set up data centres in Uttar Pradesh (UP), besides data security firm RackBank.
 

Data centre are housing computing infrastructure viz. servers, routers, switches, and firewalls, apart from supporting paraphernalia like backup equipment, fire suppression facilities and air conditioning.
 

The Yogi Adityanath government has recently approved UP’s maiden data centre project, which will be set up by Mumbai-based realty major Hiranandani Group with an investment of Rs 600 crore and spanning 20 acres in Greater Noida. Now, the state government is processing the investment proposals of other companies, including Adani Group.
 

Earlier, Hiranandani Group had undertaken data centre projects in Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. In January 2019, the Adani Group had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Andhra Pradesh government to invest Rs 70,000 crore to develop a solar-powered data centre park in Visakhapatnam over the next 20 years.
 

Since a data centre entails heavy energy consumption, the UP government has also prepared a blueprint in this regard, according to a senior industrial development department official. The proposed data centres would be fed with electricity through open access medium to ensure uninterrupted supply.

 

The Centre is actively pursuing the policy of data localisation for greater data security amid the fast penetration of internet and online services in both the public and private sector domains.
 

Currently, due to the lack of robust data centres, the domestic data are preserved in servers based in foreign companies, including the USA, thus exposing such vital offshore data about banking, social media, retail, tourism, health segments etc, to possible cyberattacks and vested manipulations.
 

Once data centres are developed indigenously, there would be greater security of such data within the country’s geography.

Meanwhile, the Adityanath government is preparing a data centre policy to boost the prospects of attracting private investment in the sector. The policy draft is likely to be put before the state cabinet soon for approval. The state is targeting to emerge as a major data centre destination in India.
 

“The setting up of the data centres in UP would not only generate mass local employment but also stand as a testimony of the success of the states’ industrial policy,” the official noted.