3 months ago
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Building a information centre successful the United States costs 2.5 times much than successful India, making the second a favoured destination for hyperscalers worldwide, Raju Vegesna, Chairman and Managing Director, Sify Technologies, said connected Thursday (February 12, 2026).
When it came to gathering information centres, India was globally 1 of the astir cost-effective successful presumption of outgo per mega watt, Mr. Vegesna said, during a fireside chat with John Xavier, Tech Editor, The Hindu, connected the taxable ‘Powering India’s AI Future: Data Centres, Capital, and the Race to Scale’ arsenic portion of The Hindu Tech Summit 2026. The summit, hosted by The Hindu, is presented by Vellore Institute of Technology and co-presented by Sify Technologies.
“In India, the labour cost, and the costs of alloy and cement are cheaper. Also, astir of the things needed to physique information centres specified arsenic transformers, cooling systems, and electrical accessories are each manufactured successful India, adjacent though they are being made by MNCs,” helium said. “Today, if you comparison the U.S. and India, the U.S. costs two-and-a-half times more,” Mr. Vegesna added. “Similarly, successful presumption of power, we are astir 40% cheaper compared to the U.S.”
That, helium said, was the crushed wherefore the hyperscaler companies were funny successful coming to India to connection their services to the remainder of the world. This was an vantage since it would assistance physique a large ecosystem. Having a information centre with AI services would pb to the instauration of institutions for grooming and cognition transaction.
On the downside, the benignant of concern required for gathering a hyperscaler level is not imaginable successful India, which necessitates looking astatine different hybrid models ensuring co-existence of hyperscalers and backstage information banks, Mr. Vegesna observed. “Over time, arsenic we physique our infrastructure and applications, India tin besides travel up with hyperscaler entities,” helium maintained.
Welcoming the taxation vacation announced successful the Union Budget 2026-27 for gathering information centres successful India, Mr. Vegesna said this would alteration India to measure the information centres that acceptable up store here. Besides, mounting up a information centre required skilled manpower, close from the plan and operation stages.
Outlining his acquisition with respect to tackling obsolescence, helium said that the institution invested connected flexible plumbing that could accommodate immoderate benignant of server successful the server hall. “We are not a build-to-suit-customer benignant of a information centre. We are a full-grown co-location work provider. That means you conscionable determination your rack into our information centre and past plug and play,” helium said.
Asked astir India’s improvement pathway, Mr. Vegesna said that India’s accidental laic successful however the state could alteration from IT services to AI services. “Opportunities travel lone erstwhile determination is simply a break, a exertion change. For me, this is the top accidental for India aft Y2K. How accelerated we determination matters,” helium asserted.
