HYDERABAD: In what is being seen as a massive investment by Amazon in Telangana, the tech giant has sought environmental clearance for the construction of two data centres at a cost of Rs 11,624 crore ($1.6 billion).
The data centres are expected to come up at two locations on the outskirts of Hyderabad in Ranga Reddy district. More than 90 per cent of the investment would go towards the high-end computer and storage equipment that would be housed at these two data centres. They would help in developing an Amazon Web Services region in Telangana.
While one data centre is proposed at Chandanvelly village in Shabad mandal, the other is proposed at Meerkhanpet village in Kandukur mandal, which is already part of the land parcel under Hyderabad Pharma City project of the State government.
The proposals by the Amazon Data Services India Private Limited (ADSIPL) seeking environmental clearance for constructing the data centres have already been recommended by the State Expert Appraisal Committee (SEAC) of Telangana at its meeting held on January 31. According to the documents provided by the ADSIPL as part of a proposal seeking environmental clearance which are accessed by TNIE, the built-up area of the data centre at Chandanvelly is 66,003 square metres (sq.m.) and at Meerkhanpet, it is 82,833 sq.m.
As per the Environment Impact Assessment notification, 2006, one has to apply for environmental clearance for any construction project with a built-up area exceeding 20,000 sq.m. According to a letter sent by the IT Department of the Telangana government to Telangana State Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (TSIIC) dated December 9, apart from these two locations, the State government has also decided to allocate land to Amazon to develop data centres at Raviryala in Maheshwaram, Ranga Reddy district.
The tech giant looks to exploit the data centre market in India, which was recently pegged to reach $4 billion by 2024, aided by increase in demand for cloud computing, big data and IoT services.This apart, the increase in Internet and smart device users in the country and the plans of State and Central governments to migrate traditional services to digital platforms may work in its favour.
Tapping into data market
One data centre is proposed at Chandanvelly in Shabad mandal, while the other is proposed at Meerkhanpet village in Kandukur mandal. More than 90 per cent of the investment would go towards high-end computer and storage equipment that would be housed at these two data centres.