Data centre industry wary of proposed certification scheme

Time of India

a day ago

ETtech
The data centre industry has come out against the government's plans to introduce India-specific guidelines for certifying data centres and standardising many of their functions, saying the move is duplicative and unaligned with international norms.The draft data centre certification scheme, proposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology MeitY ), risks creating a major dual compliance burden for operators, hindering both domestic and global market participation, IT and tech industry body Nasscom said in its feedback to the government.Data centre operators fear the move doesn't recognise the pace of technological change, or diversity in the sector.Developed by MeitY's Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate, the proposed certification framework seeks to establish standards for data centre operations and maintenance across the country.Considering STQC – an attached office of the MeitY – already audits government-empanelled Cloud Service Providers (CSPs), Nasscom has questioned the incremental value of the proposed scheme.Instead, it has suggested a tiered, risk-based assessment that identifies only incremental compliance for those already adhering to global and MeitY standards. 'Additional requirements should be context-specific, and the certification must be explicitly voluntary,' it told the government.STQC maintains national and international accreditations in the IT field by providing testing, calibration, certification and e-governance services through a nationwide chain of labs.Indian operators already operate with global certifications like Uptime/TIA942, said Sunil Gupta, cofounder, managing director and CEO of Yotta Data Services, a cloud infrastructure and data centre services firm.These can be used as baseline by the government for framing additional guidelines for facilities hosting government data, he said.'Additional guidelines for green energy adoption, physical and logical security including telemetry or Internet of Things data for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing equipment can be framed by the government,' Gupta said.The government can also mandate the adoption of Make in India components, availability of sovereign cloud and managed services, and decide whether ultimate ownership of the data centre lies with Indian or foreign citizens or entities, he said.But the policy should have differential expectations from centres with different purposes, he stressed.Nasscom pointed out the draft scheme proposes a uniform approach to all data centres, failing to recognise diverse business models like enterprise, co-location, and large hyperscalers.While some countries have introduced standards for data centres with a specific local gap in mind, such as Japan's standard for earthquake risk, Nasscom noted jurisdictions rarely introduce exclusive, comprehensive certification schemes beyond existing global standards.Some industry officials noted a central policy can help streamline data centre policies across states.'In India, every state has a different data centre policy, mandating different building and power regulations, and a lot of time goes in understanding and comparing them,' said Sureshkumar Rathod, president, colocation business, at data centre operator CtrlS.A data centre 'should be built in a year, but in India, it takes a minimum of three and a half to four years,' he said. 'This problem of having to invest without any outcome for a long time is a big one.'Rathod said countries such as Malaysia and Thailand promote data centres as one industry across states.As of July, India has 153 data centres, according to industry estimates.The sector is poised for explosive growth, with capacity projected to surge 77% by 2027, reaching a staggering 1.8 GW, global real estate services firm JLL said in a report in April.This expansion comes on the heels of the industry surpassing the 1 GW milestone in 2024, growing at a compounded annual rate of 24% since 2019.