India a cost-effective destination to build DCs with quality talent ecosystem, says Sify Chairman Raju Vegesna

G. Vishwanathan, Founder and Vice Chancellor, Vellore Institute of Technology, N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Group, Suresh Nambath, Editor, The Hindu, Naveneeth, CEO, The Hindu Group, Raju Vegesna, Chairman and Managing Director, Sify Technologies , also pose with AI Robotic at Inauguration of The Hindu Tech Summit 2026 in Chennai | Photo Credit: VELANKANNI RAJ B

India has a huge headroom of power to support the explosive growth in Data Centre (DC) business, and the Budget decision to offer tax holiday will help increase demand from hyperscalers, Raju Vegesna, Chairman and Managing Director of Sify Technologies Ltd , said on Thursday.

“India is also investing in renewable energy making it sustainable business. But, DCs need 24*7 power and technology, and for that, the battery energy storage systems are also evolving,” he said.

He was speaking at The Hindu Tech Summit 2026, , jointly organised by The Hindu Group, VIT, and Sify Technologies, held in Chennai. The two-day event brings together leaders from government, academia and industry under the theme “Continuity Unbroken: Building the Architecture of Resilience in a Connected World.”

Speaking about the economics of power, Vegesna said that it costs 2.5 times more in the US, than India, to build a DC. Labour, cement and steel is cheaper; power too is almost 40 per cent cheaper [in India than the US], he said. Talent ecosystem too is rich, and this is a reason why hyperscalers come to India, he added.

About Sify’s plans, he said that for the next few years, they are focused on building Edge DCs across various tier 2 cities in India and also large DCs in the metros.

High capex game

On AI, Vegesna noted that India cannot play the high capex game like American Big Tech companies. “After Y2K, AI is the greatest opportunity for India’s IT industry to offer AI services and how fast we move matters,” he said.

At the inauguration of the event, G. Viswanathan, Founder and Chancellor, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) emphasised on the need to increase investment and enrollment in higher education. “They say India is the most unequal country in the world, next only to Russia. Unless we provide education, this cannot be curtailed. It requires government policy,” he said.

He added that the reduced government spending means that currently the burden of education mostly falls on the learner.

Moreover, India were to compete with developed countries, the spending on research and development should be increased manifold from the present 0.7 per cent , he said.

Sekar Viswanathan, Vice-President, VIT, said in the event that VIT is actively working toward integrating AI into the education sector, particularly for personalised learning.

Among those present at the inaugural session were G Vishwanathan, Founder and Chancellor, Vellore Institute of Technology; N Ram, Director, The Hindu Group; Suresh Nambath, Editor, The Hindu; L Navaneeth, CEO, The Hindu Group; and Raju Vegesna, Chairman and Managing Director, Sify Technologies.

Published on February 12, 2026