According to industry sources, the government of Maharashtra will introduce a policy on the data centre business by November 2022. The state already has a comprehensive policy governing the information technology sector under which data centres currently operate. However, given the high growth in data centres and the policy lagging behind the industry, a separate policy exclusively for data centres will be introduced.
As per the sources, the state’s Ministry of Industries is taking the lead in the formulation of the policy and the document will come out in 30 days.
According to Kaustubh Dhavse, joint secretary in the government of Maharashtra, the government will provide an adequate, optimal policy for data centres, which would be beneficial to the citizens and enables the entrepreneurs and the ecosystem. He added that the policy in the works will also address the power issue by stressing on green and sustainable energy. Further, he acknowledged that more clarity is required on some aspects related to the goods and services tax issues and that some complicated matters regarding the same have been brought to the government’s notice. He also mentioned that Maharashtra was among the first states to move its data centres to the cloud and added that in 2015 it was operating 75 big and small data centres, and spending Rs 4.5 billion a year to add space.
