Up and running: Data centre providers burn the midnight oil to keep the new oil flowing

MUMBAI: When the government declared data centres as essential service at the onset of the lockdown, many spent between Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore on staff safety and site maintenance to keep the data centres running.

At least 40 data centres across major metros like Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Chennai, kept critical staff — 10-25 per location — within the premises for over three months of the lockdown in order to minimise the risk of employees getting exposed to Covid-19. These were all male members in their 20s and 30s, the companies told ET.