Yotta Data Services has emerged as one of India’s key players in digital infrastructure, offering solutions across hyperscale data centres, sovereign cloud, AI cloud, cybersecurity, connectivity, and managed services. As India accelerates its digital transformation, Yotta is positioning itself to address the growing demand for secure, scalable, and affordable technology infrastructure. In this exclusive interaction, Sunil Gupta, Co-founder, Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer, Yotta Data Services, explains to Anannya Saraswat, Reporter (Public Sector & Leadership) at APAC Media and CXO Media, how the company is contributing to India’s cloud and AI ecosystem while supporting enterprises, governments, and startups in their digital journeys.
Yotta has grown rapidly in the Indian data centre and cloud ecosystem. Can you walk us through your current portfolio of services and solutions? What are the most in-demand offerings today?
Yotta Data Services is a sovereign cloud and platform services provider, delivering a wide portfolio across sovereign cloud, AI cloud services, hyperscale data centres, cybersecurity, connectivity, cyber-workspaces, and managed IT services.
We currently operate five hyperscale data centres: NM1 (Navi Mumbai), D1 (Greater Noida), G1 (Gandhinagar), and two additional sites (TB1 and TB2), backed by dense network connectivity, top-tier certifications, and best-in-class security protocols.
One of the strongest areas of demand we see today is for sovereign cloud, as enterprises and government organisations prioritise data residency, compliance, and security. Our sovereign cloud platform is purpose-built to meet these needs, enabling enterprises and government organisations to adopt public, private, and hybrid multi-cloud environments, supported by disaster recovery and advanced security guardrails. Customers can easily access compute, storage, networking, and developer tools on demand through a single self-service portal, covering IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS.
Another fast-growing area of demand for us is AI services, driven by enterprises and institutions looking to scale AI deployments quickly and cost-effectively. To meet this, we provide GPU-powered infrastructure for training, inference, analytics, rendering, and HPC through our Shakti Cloud platform. Along with providing GPU-enabled virtual desktops. This empowers businesses, startups, academic institutions, and researchers to advance generative AI, deep learning, and other complex workloads without heavy upfront investment.
What is the proportional contribution from co-lo businesses and managed services businesses today?
At Yotta, we describe our portfolio as spanning “concrete to cloud,” from world-class hyperscale data centres to sovereign and AI cloud platforms, cybersecurity, connectivity, managed applications, and IT services. Colocation is offered as a service to hyperscalers, banks, governments, and enterprises alike, and it forms the foundation for everything we do, powering our sovereign cloud and AI services that run on top of our physical infrastructure. It is the bedrock upon which we deliver our broader suite of technology and managed services.
What differentiates us from much of the industry is that we don’t stop at providing just basic colocation. Instead, we operate much higher up the value chain, delivering value-added services within a truly sovereign ecosystem and providing enterprises with an end-to-end digital transformation journey built on Indian infrastructure and software solutions.
Today, technology and managed services account for over 75% of our business, with colocation serving as the essential foundation that enables these offerings. We take pride in this model, as it allows us to play a vital role in strengthening India’s digital infrastructure and ensuring that the nation’s most critical applications and data remain truly sovereign.
What are the key components of Yotta’s go-to-market strategy, specifically for the Indian market? Are there specific sectors or customer segments you’re prioritising?
At Yotta, our go-to-market strategy in India is anchored on delivering scalable, secure, and accessible digital infrastructure that meets the needs of enterprises, governments, hyperscalers, start-ups, and SMEs through a simplified “as-a-service” model.
We focus on partners’ enablement to drive deeper engagement with customers. We engage with the partner organisations’ sales teams so that they have a compelling story to share with their customers.
Another core pillar of our strategy is making AI infrastructure accessible and affordable in India. Yotta is India’s first (and among only six globally) Reference Platform NVIDIA Cloud Partner (NCP). Despite offering a world-class NVIDIA reference architecture, we remain extremely cost-effective compared to global peers. Beyond infrastructure, we enable enterprises and innovators with a comprehensive AI services stack, including model training, inference delivered on a serverless per-token (pay-per-use) model, AI Labs for experimentation, NVIDIA NIMs (inference microservices), and pre-built AI solution blueprints that accelerate deployment across industries.
This holistic approach ensures that cutting-edge AI capabilities are not restricted to large enterprises but are available to every researcher, start-up, or developer, irrespective of their scale, to truly democratize AI adoption in India.
The data services space is highly competitive. What are Yotta’s core differentiators that set it apart?
Yotta stands apart in India’s data services market by combining infrastructure scale, technology depth, agility, and sustainability under one roof. Unlike traditional providers, we operate on an ownership-based model, designing, building, and managing our infrastructure end-to-end. This ensures control over quality and security while enabling us to deliver a full-stack portfolio of colocation, sovereign cloud, AI cloud, managed services, and cybersecurity.
A key differentiator is our sovereign cloud strategy. We work with the NIC and STPI to host critical government workloads in fully compliant, sovereign environments. At the same time, we are innovatively bringing global technologies into our sovereign cloud through partnerships with AWS and Microsoft, enabling enterprises to access world-class platforms while ensuring data residency and compliance. Through our alliance with Microsoft, Azure AI services are being integrated into Shakti Cloud, creating a secure, low-latency hybrid AI ecosystem that supports developers, enterprises, startups, public sector organisations, and IndiaAI Mission participants to leapfrog AI innovation.
We are also at the forefront of India’s AI-first cloud journey. With Shakti Cloud, the country’s first sovereign GPU cloud, and our role as the only NVIDIA Reference Platform Cloud Partner in India, Yotta provides advanced GPU infrastructure to power generative AI, HPC, deep learning, and data analytics, positioning us as a true enabler of India’s digital sovereignty and innovation.
How is Yotta’s channel and partner network structured? What role do technology partners, resellers, and system integrators play in your overall growth strategy?
The ecosystem is split into the Alliance Partner Framework, the Technology Partner Framework (OEM/ISV/SaaS), the Consulting Partner Framework, and the Reseller Partner Framework.
The alliance partners bundle Yotta’s colocation, cloud, and managed services into broader customer solutions. While the technology partners co-bundle Yotta infrastructure with proprietary hardware/software or SaaS solutions. Through joint go-to-market initiatives, this delivers end-to-end offerings.
Our consulting partners are the advisory firms that position our services within digital transformation roadmaps. They educate clients on our performance differentiators and cost and compliance advantages. Finally, our reseller partners are white-label portals that provide seamless resale of our services via a single orchestration layer.
How are you integrating AI, edge computing, or green tech into your offerings? What sort of edge computing use cases are seeing increasing traction today?
In terms of AI integration, we are empanelled under the IndiaAI Mission and are the largest supplier of the mission’s GPU capacity, which grants instant, secure access to high-performance computing. We also offer Shakti Cloud, which delivers state-of-the-art AI services built on sovereign GPU infrastructure. It offers six modular AI platform services, including Serverless AI Inferencing and AI Lab as a Service, to provide end-to-end MLOps pipelines for training, tuning, and deploying models on NVIDIA GPUs within India.
As a Reference Platform NVIDIA Cloud Partner, we can offer on-demand access to H100 and L40S GPUs under GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), enabling organisations to run generative AI workloads, large language models, and deep analytics with ultra-low latency.
To meet demands at the network fringe, we are rapidly expanding our edge data centre footprint in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.
Lastly, we embed sustainability across our design, construction, and operations. All our data centres incorporate eco-friendly building standards, using advanced airflow management, water-efficient cooling, and LED lighting to minimise environmental impact. Facilities target LEED Gold and IGBC certifications, aiming for Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) below 1.4 through optimised HVAC systems and AI-driven energy management. Most importantly, we leverage in-house captive power distribution and solar installations to reduce reliance on grid power and lower carbon emissions.
Data security and compliance are growing concerns. How does Yotta address these issues for enterprise clients?
Yotta helps enterprise customers tackle data security and compliance through a multilayered approach that combines robust infrastructure controls, purpose-built services, and transparent governance and audit capabilities.
Our Cloud operates under a clear Shared Responsibility Model, wherein we are responsible for the security of the underlying infrastructure—from physical data centres and networking equipment to the hypervisor layer—while customers retain complete control over their data and applications.
At the fabric level, our data centres employ physical security controls (biometric access, surveillance, and on-site guards) and environmental protections (power redundancy and fire detection/suppression). We have a comprehensive 15-layer security protocol that includes barbed fence walls with over 500 AI and manually monitored surveillance cameras, dedicated vehicle holding with boom barriers, under-vehicle scanners with driver and vehicle detail capture, military-grade explosives and narcotics detection devices, baggage scanning and manual frisking at various entry points, turnstile barriers, automated mantraps at server hall entry, biometric authentication, and RFID tagging for equipment.
Cybersecurity services, such as WAF and DDoS protection, offer managed defence against web layer attacks and DDoS threats, helping enterprises meet stringent availability and data integrity requirements.
At Yotta, we maintain global security and compliance certifications—including ISO 27001, ISO 27017/18, ISO 22301, and SOC 2—and adhere to RBI’s data localisation guidelines, all validated by independent auditors.
Enterprises can retrieve audit reports, certifications, and data processing agreements on demand, thereby streamlining their vendor due diligence and regulatory audits. Enterprises can focus on application development and innovation while relying completely on Yotta for perimeter and data security controls and enhancements.
We also operate a 24×7 SOC, which is SOAR-enabled and manned by SMEs across various security technologies, enabling automated orchestration and remediation of advanced security threats. These services can also be leveraged by our customers to protect workloads, receive proactive threat alerts, and obtain periodic SOC monitoring reports as mandated by various regulatory authorities.
Through this combination of infrastructure security, comprehensive services, managed governance, and transparent audit support, we enable enterprises to build secure and compliant workloads at scale.
Data centres consume a lot of energy. How is Yotta working toward sustainability and carbon neutrality?
Sustainability is embedded in our core design, operations, and long-term roadmap. At present, Yotta’s D1 facility in Greater Noida operates on 100% green energy for its current load, while NM1 in Navi Mumbai is running on 80% renewable energy. This transition has been possible through a diversified energy mix that includes hydro and thermal sources, with plans to expand into wind, solar, and battery storage solutions. Our long-term ambition is to operate fully on renewable power across all facilities.
Yotta also leads in energy-efficient engineering. Our data centres operate at a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.4 or lower, among the best in the industry. We deploy cutting-edge cooling innovations such as adiabatic chillers, rear-door cooling, direct-to-chip liquid cooling, and cold aisle containment to reduce both energy and water usage. Motion-sensor lighting, blanking plates, and intelligent airflow systems further optimise resource consumption.
Beyond operations, we’re aligning with India’s Net Zero 2070 commitment, designing facilities to meet evolving green regulations and global sustainability benchmarks. Our NM1 data centre is already LEED Gold certified, and D1 holds a Platinum IGBC rating, validating our progress.
How is Yotta building secure and scalable AI infrastructure to support India’s growing demand for trusted and sovereign AI solutions? Moreover, how is the company ensuring that the use of AI in India remains inclusive, benefiting diverse communities, businesses, and regions across the country?
Yotta is building India’s most secure and scalable AI infrastructure through its sovereign AI cloud platform, Shakti Cloud, and a nationwide network of hyperscale data centres optimised for high density, GPU-intensive workloads. With over 9,000 cutting-edge GPUs, including the largest deployment of NVIDIA H100S in the country, Yotta ensures that India’s developers, enterprises, and government agencies have reliable, sovereign access to AI compute. These facilities are not only scalable but also sustainable, with industry-best PUEs and a growing reliance on renewable energy.
To keep AI inclusive, Yotta’s approach prioritises accessibility and affordability. Through initiatives like Rudra and Shambho, startups can access up to $200,000 in cloud credits, enabling them to train and deploy AI models without heavy upfront costs. AI Lab as a Service offers GPU-based virtual labs to universities and innovation hubs, democratising hands-on AI education.
By powering LLMs tailored for India’s linguistic and cultural diversity and supporting critical sectors like agriculture, Yotta is enabling AI that works for India, not just in India. Our mission is to fuel innovation and ensure that AI’s transformative benefits reach every corner of the country.
Looking ahead, what are the key focus areas for Yotta in terms of geographical expansion and infrastructure investments? Are there any new services or technology layers Yotta plans to add to its portfolio in the near future?
Yotta is charting an ambitious growth path, focused on delivering globally competitive digital infrastructure and cloud solutions. Our strategy rests on two parallel pillars: deepening our domestic footprint across various Tier I and even Tier II and III cities in India. We are working extensively with many state governments in order to collaborate and roll out their AI growth plans and strategies. We are also expanding into high-growth international markets, with AI-ready data centre campuses planned across Nepal and Bangladesh. We are also working very closely and exploring strategic partnerships in Europe, the Middle East, North America, and the APAC region.
The rising demand for AI-enabled services, coupled with India’s drive for data localisation and accelerated cloud adoption, gives momentum to this expansion.
We are fast-tracking India’s sovereign cloud ambitions through Shakti Cloud and our broader AI service suite. We are also deploying Ananta Cloud for STPI and extending sovereign IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS services to different agencies. We’ve partnered exclusively with AWS to offer hybrid cloud for mission-critical government workloads.
