India’s Data Transformation Finds Its Edge in Tier 2 Cities
Until recently, most of India’s data infrastructure was concentrated in metro hubs like Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Chennai. However, this centralised model created latency issues for users in non-metro areas and left vast regions underserved. With rising data consumption across smaller cities and towns, the focus is shifting away from metro-centric data centres to a more decentralised architecture. Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are emerging as key enablers of this shift, offering lower costs, improved land availability, and growing demand for cloud and digital services. Recognising this potential, several major players — including AdaniConneX, Reliance, Sify, Atlassian, Yotta, AWS, and Lenovo — have announced substantial investments in data centres across the country. Among the recent developments, RackBank has inaugurated a state-of-the-art, AI-focused data centre park in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, with an initial capacity of 80MW. “What is the next phase of evolution? All the application providers would like to set up their application node closer to the end user,”  Vipul Kumar, vice president, edge and network at CtrlS Datacenters, told AIM. Recognising the opportunity, CtrlS has rolled out and planned multiple edge data centres in cities like Patna, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Bhopal, Kochi, and Ahmedabad (GIFT City) — all designed to bring content and compute closer to users. Early Success in Patna & Lucknow CtrlS’ data centre in Patna, as Kumar mentioned, is one of the company’s earliest projects and stands as a case study in successful decentralisation. He further added that the 109-rack facility, operational for over three years, is now nearly 90% sold out, serving internet exchanges, ISPs, telcos, and hosting a 5G node. “Our job is to provide a ready-made data centre infrastructure to enable cloud service providers, content players, and telcos to deploy their services, including 5G nodes, with infrastructure ready for immediate use,” Kumar explained. Following Patna’s success, CtrlS is now developing, as Kumar mentioned,a Greenfield facility in the city with a 10 MW IT load, set to host one of the world’s top five content providers. In Lucknow, a smaller 49-rack centre is already active, with plans underway to scale. A strategic partnership with a California-based cloud provider was recently signed to co-locate infrastructure in this facility. Meanwhile, Sify Infinit Spaces has begun developing a new data centre in Lucknow. The facility is planned in four phases, with the first phase expected to go live by June 2025. This project is part of Sify’s broader strategy to roll out smaller edge AI inference data centres across 20 secondary markets in India. It also supports the Uttar Pradesh government’s vision of positioning the state as a leading data centre hub in North India. Edge Facilities as the Backbone of Decentralised Infrastructure Edge facilities—also known as edge data centres—are compact, localised data centres strategically placed closer to end-users or devices. These centres significantly reduce latency and enable faster data processing, making them critical for latency-sensitive applications such as IoT, 5G, and smart city initiatives. For example, STT GDC India, one of the country’s foremost colocation service providers, operates 28 data centres across 10 Indian cities, covering 3.8 million square feet and supporting over 300 MW of IT load. “All our edge data centres are designed as interconnected nodes. These are not standalone or isolated units, but seamless extensions of our hyperscale and hybrid cloud facilities,” Kumar added. He further added that CtrlS Datacenters is not only building standalone edge sites, it is also developing an interconnected ecosystem that links smaller edge nodes directly to its hyperscale facilities in major metros. This seamless architecture allows customers to operate across regions without compromising on speed or connectivity. For smaller cities like Bhopal and Raipur, this interconnected model ensures that user data does not have to be routed through distant metros like Mumbai or Delhi, significantly reducing latency and improving performance. “For instance, a server may be co-located in Mumbai or Delhi, but users in Patna or Bhopal accessing that content experience latency. Our edge facilities bring content and cloud closer to the user,” Kumar explained. Beyond just enterprise use, CtrlS’s edge facilities are also designed to empower rural startups, local industries, and state governments. Innovation and Sustainability at the Core CtrlS’s facilities are being future-proofed with support for AI workloads, a growing requirement in modern computing. “We are designing for AI readiness, and AI applications need an exhaustive power requirement,”Kumar noted. With power density per rack increasing from 30-40kW to over 250kW, new facilities in Mumbai and Hyderabad are being engineered with enhanced power infrastructure and structural load-bearing capacity of over 2,500 kg per rack. “Due to AI, a lot of compute can go into a single rack. It’s highly optimised, so it needs to be supported up to 2,500 kg and beyond,” Kumar added. Further, CtrlS is one of the few global data centre operators with a fully in-house design team, following its acquisition of Schnabel nearly a decade ago. This internal capability allows for highly customised, sustainable builds. All CtrlS facilities include wastewater processing plants, enabling significant water reuse. Currently, the team is focused on advanced technologies such as liquid cooling to support high-density AI workloads. CtrlS already operates a captive solar farm in Nagpur and is partnering with state governments to develop more green energy sources. “The power grid in India isn’t centralised. We try to build data centres near regional grids to reduce transmission loss and improve uptime, especially in areas with weaker infrastructure,” Kumar added. Though energy policy in India varies from state to state, CtrlS adapts to local conditions while continuing its green power efforts. Bhubaneswar and Beyond There is growing momentum around the adoption of containerised data centres—modular, portable units designed for rapid deployment and easy scaling. These compact facilities are especially suited for edge computing, where flexibility, speed, and proximity to the end-user are key. Their plug-and-play design allows them to be quickly installed in remote or underserved locations, making them an increasingly popular choice for expanding digital infrastructure beyond traditional metro hubs. A pioneering example of this innovation is currently being implemented in Bhubaneswar by CtrlS Datacenters. Recognising the capital-intensive nature of traditional data centres, CtrlS is deploying a modular, container-based facility, a compact data centre housed within a cabinet, complete with integrated cooling, power systems, workstations, and rack infrastructure. This 15-rack containerised data centre is designed to be both scalable and portable. The official launch is scheduled for May 30. Building on its domestic success, CtrlS is also making a bold leap onto the international stage. The company has begun work on its first overseas data centre in Chonburi, Thailand, located about 20 kilometres from Bangkok. “Work is in progress, and we hope to complete the project at the earliest,” Kumar said.
CtrlS is launching a 15-rack containerised data centre designed to be both scalable and portable in Bhubaneswar on 30th May.
CtrlS is launching a 15-rack containerised data centre designed to be both scalable and portable in Bhubaneswar on 30th May.
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Shalini is a senior tech journalist, exploring the latest advancements in AI. When she's not reporting on the latest innovations, you can find her immersed in her next literary adventure.