Give infrastructure status to data centres, technology firms press DPIIT

Practical issues such as the difficulties in combining two data centres that may be close to each other (such as permissions required from the telecom ministry and other departments) were discussed

Technology firms and industry bodies on Tuesday discussed issues linked to data centres with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, with foreign firms expressing their objection to norms on data storage. 

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said the aim of the meeting was to discuss data storage in India, and not data localisation. “We highlighted the idea of giving infrastructure status to data centres,” said Ashish Agarwal, senior director and head, public policy at Nasscom.

However, major foreign players including Facebook, Google, Intel, Microsoft, and others, reiterated their opposition to the current norms on data