Data Centers in Kolkata

Kolkata – Gateway to Eastern India & Beyond

Kolkata is a vital digital gateway for Eastern India and neighboring countries. For businesses targeting this massive consumer and industrial market, Kolkata's data centers provide the essential low-latency infrastructure required for effective service delivery and regional expansion. The city's blend of terrestrial and subsea cable connectivity ensures resilient access to both domestic and international networks.

Kolkata: At A Glance

Network & Connectivity Ecosystem

Kolkata offers a solid and growing connectivity ecosystem, serving as a critical hub for traffic moving between India and Southeast Asia.

Carrier Density & Carrier Neutrality: With over 6 network providers present, as of September 2025, enterprises have access to a competitive market. Carrier-neutral facilities provide diverse options for local, national, and international connectivity.

Direct Cloud On-Ramps: Over 1 direct on-ramp is available, enabling dedicated private access to AWS cloud services from within Kolkata, as of September 2025. This allows for the development of secure, high-performance hybrid cloud architectures.

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs): The city is served by major IXPs like NIXI, which facilitates efficient, low-latency traffic exchange between internet service providers and content networks within the region. Most peering occurs directly within carrier-neutral data centers.

Bare Metal: Bare metal cloud services are available, providing dedicated compute for performance-sensitive applications. Providers such as Hivelocity and phoenixNAP offer solutions in the Indian market.

Power Analysis

Kolkata provides a favorable power environment for data center operations, though the grid requires modern, redundant infrastructure to ensure uptime.

Average Cost Of Power: Industrial electricity costs are approximately $0.07/kWh, as of 2019. This competitive rate helps manage the significant operational expense of power and cooling for high-density compute.

Power Grid Reliability: The power grid in Kolkata's primary data center zones is well-engineered, with facilities typically supported by multiple substations. Data centers in the region are built with extensive N+1 or 2N UPS systems and backup generators to guarantee uptime.

Market Access, Business & Tax Climate

Kolkata's strategic location and economic profile make it an effective base for digital business in the region.

Proximity To Key Business Districts: Data centers are located to serve the central business district and the growing IT hub in Salt Lake City (Bidhannagar), providing low-latency connections for financial services, software development, and BPO industries.

Regional Market Reach: As the primary commercial and financial center of Eastern India, Kolkata provides excellent digital access to a population of hundreds of millions across West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, and the northeastern states. It also serves as a key gateway for traffic to Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan.

Tax Advantage For Data Centers: India does not currently provide direct federal tax incentives or abatements for data center construction or operation. The primary financial advantage comes from operating in a market with competitive power pricing and a large, accessible talent pool.

Natural Disaster Risk

Kolkata is rated as a high-risk location, with an overall INFORM Risk score of 5.5 out of 10, as of September 2025. This score reflects significant environmental and infrastructure challenges.

Data center selection in this market requires careful evaluation of a provider's specific mitigation strategies. The primary natural hazards for the region include:

• River Flood: Score of 9.2
• Earthquake: Score of 8.3
• Tsunami: Score of 7.8
• Coastal Flood: Score of 7.8
• Tropical Cyclone: Score of 7.7

Modern, purpose-built data centers in Kolkata are designed to withstand these risks, incorporating elevated infrastructure, robust structural engineering, and comprehensive flood defenses.