The central government emphasized that it wants both the public and private sectors to collaborate to drive investments, generate employment, and build domestic data centers as infrastructure demands rise.

Speaking to on the sidelines of the Microsoft AI Infrastructure Summit India, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jitin Prasada said data centers will serve as vital infrastructure for economic and technological growth in the coming years.

"Today, Microsoft has made an investment so that our citizens' data remains within India. Our critical data must stay secure, and we want both the government and the private sector to work together so that investments flow in, employment opportunities are created, and because data centers will become crucial in the coming times," Prasada said.

The minister noted that recent commitments support efforts to safeguard domestic information assets while handling the demands created by emerging technologies.

"Today, the matter of joy is that data centers-which will play an ambitious role for any country in the times ahead-are being rapidly developed in India. In line with the Honourable Prime Minister's vision, active efforts are underway to attract data center investments to India," Prasada said.

"You can see how everyone's data footprint is surging through AI. This will play a critical role for any nation. India is playing a pivotal role," he added.

Earlier in the day, Puneet Chandok, President, Microsoft India and South Asia, stated that Microsoft's new India South Central cloud region will use effectively zero water for cooling and is being built to handle AI workloads from day one, adding that the tech giant is "putting water back into the ground."

Addressing the Summit, Chandok announced the company's fourth cloud region in India - India South Central - which will be established in Hyderabad, adding to its existing cloud regions in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai. Also, the latest centre has been designated a strategic hub for Asia and the Global South.

"It's our fourth cloud region in India. We have Pune, Chennai, and Mumbai, and now we have Hyderabad. The largest hyperscale cloud footprint in India. The largest hyperscale cloud footprint in our country," he said.

Chandok said the Hyderabad facility will be Microsoft's strategic hub in India and one of its largest investments in the country in terms of compute capacity. The region will have three availability zones and will be built to support AI workloads from the outset. (ANI)