The local government of Indian state Tamil Nadu is set to release a data center policy.
Investment agency Guidance Tamil Nadu is currently in discussions with data center companies about the policy, and more specific development projects.
Guidance TN is working with the Departments of Industries and Information and Technology on the policy, which will be released soon, The Hindu reports.
Speaking at the Investment Conclave 2021 conference, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin signed memoranda of understanding with the Singapore-based CapitaLand and Web Werks involving ₹1,900 crore ($255m) in investments.
As part of it, two data centers will be built in Ambattur. Over the last two years, the State has signed nine such MoUs with data center companies for a total investment of ₹16,927 crore ($2.2bn).
Other states are also developing specific data center policies, with Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath last year stating that “we want to prepare a favorable policy so that any company looking to build a data center in north India prefers Noida. With the airport and film city in the pipeline, a separate policy for data centers will help attract investment. We have sought suggestions from industry experts.”
India as a whole is in the midst of developing a National Data Centre policy that would class facilities as infrastructure, and simplify the approval process to a single-window system that also covers power availability.
As it stands, companies often having to get approval from as many as 36 government departments to begin building data centers in India.
2021 has seen Digital Realty, Iron Mountain, Yondr, and EdgeConneX all form joint ventures with investment partners to develop data centers in India. At the same time, the likes of CapitaLand, NTT, STT GDC, PDG, Hiranandani Group, and Reliance Jio have all made announcements around hyperscale facilities in the country this year.
