India second-most risk prone country for datacentre operations

India, considered a world leader in providing outsourcing solutions, is the second-most risk prone location globally for hosting datacentre operations, a survey by global consultancy firm Cushman & Wakefield said.
According to Datacenter Risk Index 2013 survey, released by Cushman & Wakefield in association with hurleypalmerflatt and Source8, India fared poorly in crucial indicators like energy costs, ease of doing business, etc.

The survey put Brazil as the riskiest nation for hosting datacentre operations.

"India, which has been the world leader in mass IT processes with presence of most major IT and ITeS companies, has for the second year, remained at the bottom of the list of preferred Data Centre Location, beating only Brazil which ranked the lowest," the survey said.

The 'Data Centre Risk Index 2013' identifies risks likely to affect the successful operation of data centre facilities in the 30 most important global markets. While India ranked high on parameters like cost of labour (rank 4) and sustainability (rank 6), it ranked moderately on the parameters of political stability (rank 13) and global bandwidth (rank 16), it added.

India, which has a over USD 100 billion IT and IteS industry, failed to score high on crucial parameters with higher weightage in the survey. “India scored low on key factors like energy cost (rank 25) and ease of doing business (rank 30). Other factors where India lags behind are natural disasters (rank 28), energy security (rank 28), corporation tax (rank 28) and education level (rank 28)," the survey added.

The US maintains its place at the top of the survey and is considered the lowest-risk location for building and operating a data centre globally. "India presents some marked advantages, such as labour cost and high degree of operational sustainability; while it also offers moderately attractive proposition from political stability perspective," Cushman & Wakefield Executive Director Consultancy Services (MRICS) Arvind Nandan said.

However, the key to improving its rank will lie in addressing concerns on energy cost and energy security, in the short term. In the medium to long term, India needs to aim at providing an improved environment for business and strengthening its macroeconomic aspects, he added. India second-most risk prone country for datacentre operations.