Hyderabad: Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrashekhar on Monday said that efforts are afoot to consult all stakeholders for the formulation of new National Data Centre Policy. “Data Centres are an important element of our digital ecosystem that is soon on the way to be a world leading tech ecosystem,” said Chandrashekhar, who visited Microsoft’s Hyderabad centre today. 

Microsoft announced its intention to establish the India Data Centre region in Hyderabad to accelerate the country's digital momentum. According to study, Microsoft datacenter regions in India have added 1.5 million jobs to the economy  over five years, including 169,000 new skilled IT jobs.

The announcement comes in the backdrop of accelerated digitalization of products and services witnessed over the last two years. There has been a 14 per cent reported rise in the daily data consumption average of 270 Petabytes from pre-lockdown period to an average of 308 Petabytes post-lockdown.

Around 16 per cent more time has been spent by smartphone users as compared to pre-COVID-19 period. Schools and colleges resorting to online education coupled with work from home regulations led to a significant increase in data consumption.

“India’s digital economy is expanding and driving the growth of the Indian economy towards the goal of a $5 trillion economy,” said Chandrasekhar, while crediting Prime Minister Narendra Modi for laying a strong foundation of technology through the Digital India Programme launched in 2015.

Customer demand for cloud as a platform for digital transformation, driving economic growth and societal progress across India, is increasing. According to IDC, Microsoft data centre regions in India contributed $9.5B revenue to the economy between 2016 and 2020. Beyond GDP impact, the IDC report estimated 1.5 million jobs were added to the economy, including 169,000 new skilled IT jobs.