Karnataka has notified its data centre policy along with a slew of attractive incentives and concessions for investments in these units as the government aims to attract about Rs 100 billion in the emerging sector over the next five years. The policy will focus on creating demand and value for data centres, by providing a robust and well-connected ecosystem for the growth of data centres in the state.
To this end, the Cabinet decided to grant Rs 1 billion to implement the Karnataka Data Centre Policy 2022 that offers a slew of incentives and subsidies. At present, Karnataka is home to eight data centre players – Reliance, Siffy, NTT, Next Gen, Trimax, Airtel, STT and ESDS. The aforesaid policy aims at developing more than 200 MW capacity data centre industry in Karnataka by 2025.
Further, the Karnataka Data Centre Policy offers special incentives for companies to set up data storage infrastructure outside Bengaluru – capital subsidy of up to Rs 100 million, 10 per cent land subsidy up to Rs 30 million, 100 per cent stamp duty exemption up to 10 acres, concession on registration charges and 100 per cent exemption on land conversion fees. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) applicable across Karnataka include power tariff concession, exemption from electricity duty and other special incentive packages on a case-to-case basis. Meanwhile, the incentives and subsidies will cost the government Rs 14.67 billion.
