India growth outperforms peer markets for data centre operator Equinix

“An elevated growth rate in India is quite likely over the coming years as we expand into new markets and continue to invest in them,” Charles J Meyers, chief executive officer, Equinix told ET.

“India is a fast-growing market for us and one we think will be a big contributor to our overall growth,” Meyers, who is in India for the first time since it launched operations here through the acquisition of GPX Data centres in 2021, said.

The company said recently that it would invest $86 million to expand its presence in Mumbai to build its third data centre in the city. It is also in the process of setting up another facility in Chennai, for which it acquired 5.5 acres earlier this year.

The focus will be on organic growth, Meyers said, but did not rule out the possibility of acquisitions to accelerate growth and boost its presence in the country.

In addition to investing in capacity expansion, Equinix is also setting up an IT Centre of Excellence here. Meyers said the company would hire about 500 people by the end of the year for the Centre.

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“India has been probably the most significant priority for us…in terms of what our customers… wanted us to expand, but we’ve been very patient about trying to find the right opportunity that really fit in with our strategy and helped us accelerate the digital ecosystem,” he said.

Much of the growth going forward, said Meyers, would be driven by existing customers in other geographies expanding their operations to India and using Equinix as a partner here.

Globally, Equinix operates over 240 data centres in 31 countries, making it one of the most extensive data centre footprints for any global operator. Of these, 51 are in the Asia Pacific region.

After the sharp increase in demand during the Covid-19 pandemic brought on by an increase in digital transformation projects, Meyers said remained high, with sectors like financial services, manufacturing and retail growing well globally.