Tech giant Microsoft is investing over Rs 15,000 crore in the next 15 years as it gets going with the establishment of its biggest data center in India at Hyderabad, Telangana.
"This will be one of the largest FDIs that Telangana has attracted," Telangana Minister for IT and Industries KT Rama Rao said at an event where Microsoft announced its latest data center region in Hyderabad.
Microsoft, which has existing data centers at Pune, Mumbai and Chennai, said it expects to make the data center at Hyderabad operational by 2025.
"The Hyderabad data center will not be the largest from day 1 but it will become the largest over a while," Microsoft India President Anant Maheshwari said.
Microsoft data center regions in India contributed $9.5 billion revenue to the economy between 2016 and 2020, according to IDC estimates.
Microsoft partnering with Telangana govt
The Hyderabad data center region will offer the entire Microsoft portfolio across the cloud, data solutions, artificial intelligence (AI), productivity tools, and customer relationship management (CRM) with advanced data security, for enterprises, start-ups, developers, education, and government institutions.
Microsoft said it is partnering closely with the government of Telangana to accelerate the adoption of cloud, AI, IoT and cybersecurity solutions for governance. "This includes efforts to upskill government officials in next generation technology, supporting young girls to build careers in cybersecurity through the CyberShikshaa program, and partnering on skilling programs like DigiSaksham with the Ministry of Labour and Employment to equip jobseekers from rural areas with technical skills."
Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said "Microsoft data center region provides a competitive advantage to our digital economy and is a long-term investment in our country's potential. The cloud is transforming every industry and sector. The investment in skilling will empower India's workforce today and into the future."
"Microsoft’s customers in India, including Jio, Inmobi, Infosys, TCS, ICICI, Bajaj Finserv, Apollo Hospitals, Mahindra, Dr. Reddy’s Labs, Piramal, State Bank of India, Flipkart, Pidilite, and Amity, are already benefitting from Microsoft’s global scale cloud services and the new data center region in Hyderabad will play an important role in meeting India’s burgeoning cloud requirements," the company said.
Further, Microsoft has also committed itself to have a 100% renewable energy supply equivalent to the electricity consumed by Microsoft data centers by 2025. The new data center region will be built with sustainable design and operations in mind, enabling Microsoft to responsibly deliver reliable and highly available cloud services at scale.
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