Microsoft to Commission 3 Data Centres in India: Pramanik

"Microsoft has already started a private preview of these data centres with over 100 existing customers on board across different segments such as banking and financial institutions, government, manufacturing and start-ups," Microsoft India chairman Bhaskar Pramanik told PTI in Mumbai on Wednesday.

"They will be allowed to test it out over a three-month period. We will formally launch the services by the end of the calendar year," Pramanik added.

Microsoft will be targeting sensitive sectors including government sectors and financial services through these services.

"If the government has to address 1.2 billion citizens then it needs hyper-scale data centres at an affordable cost, with technology and flexibility," Pramanik said.

The tech giant has set up a number of initiatives around e-governance, education, last-mile access, the start-up ecosystems, smart cities and will continue to drive them going forward, he said, adding "having our own data centres will make it more real".

On the much-anticipated Windows 10 launch by next month- end, Pramanik said, "If you think about the coming year, for us it is going to be about the cloud, and it is going to be about Windows10."

He said Microsoft India's cloud business is growing at over 105 percent annually and with the establishment of the local data centres he expects to change the market.

"In a sense, we will be the market maker and get the Indian clients to move more to the cloud at a faster pace," Pramanik said.