With generative AI, data sovereignty and sustainability reshaping business priorities, India is emerging as a key destination for global businesses. As demand grows, organisations are seeking trusted, high-performance and environmentally responsible cloud partners. Terry Maiolo, Vice President-General Manager Asia Pacific, OVHcloud shares how these trends are influencing India's cloud landscape and what businesses should consider as they expand into the region.
Vice President-General Manager Asia Pacific, OVHcloud
Terry Maiolo – India is undergoing one of the most significant digital transformations in the world with a population of over 1.4 billion, a booming startup ecosystem and rapid digital infrastructure development. According to a market research report by IMARC Group, India’s digital transformation market reached USD 26.7 billion in 2024, and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.5% through 2033. This is a clear indicator of India’s accelerating digital economy and presents both scale and velocity that are unmatchable.
What makes India especially exciting is the convergence of technology, policy and entrepreneurship driving innovation nationwide. Digital India, a flagship programme by the government is transforming India into a digitally empowered society through a wide range of initiatives such as the BharatNet project. The project is one of the world’s largest rural broadband connectivity initiative which aims to establish digital connectivity in all of India’s villages by providing affordable, high-speed networks.
These initiatives are creating a strong foundation for innovation, making India not only a high-growth market but an increasingly strategic hub for global businesses. With its deep local talent pool and advantageous geographic and economic position, India is fast becoming an ideal launchpad for regional expansion across Asia Pacific.
Terry Maiolo – When expanding globally, reaching new markets is a given but maintaining the same level of trust and governance over your data is essential. For many companies, especially those based in Europe and operating across multiple jurisdictions, GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) compliance is non-negotiable. GDPR has set the benchmark for how data should be handled responsibly, and it is critical that organisations carry that same level of protection into every market they operate in. This makes it vital to partner with cloud infrastructure partners that not only meet technical requirements but are rooted in the same principles of privacy, transparency and control.
That includes cloud environments built with data sovereignty at its core, where customer retains full control over their data and no third-party including the provider has access. This approach forms the foundation of OVHcloud, where we enable businesses to expand confidently into new markets without compromises. Choosing the right cloud provider that is trusted, transparent and compliant with global standards like GDPR gives organisations the ability to scale responsibly while staying aligned with their governance commitments.
Terry Maiolo – As digital adoptions and energy demand continue to rise in markets like India, the infrastructure decisions businesses make today will shape environmental impact for years to come. That includes not only emissions but also energy efficiency, performance and transparency in carbon reporting. For companies embedding ESG goals into their strategy, aligning with infrastructure providers that prioritise these goals without compromising on performance is key.
One practical starting point would be to assess the infrastructure through clear sustainability metrics like power, water and carbon usage effectiveness, and the provider’s commitment to reporting and transparency. At OVHcloud, we deploy our proprietary water cooling technology at scale, using direct-to-chip water cooling which eliminates the need for traditional air cooling and prevents evaporative loss by circulating water in a closed loop directly over the components. This approach significantly reduces power and water consumption, allowing us to achieve a Power Usage Effectiveness of 1.24, and Water Usage Effectiveness of 0.34 L/kWh, much lower than the industry average. Customers also have access to our Environmental Impact Tracker, which enables them to monitor their carbon footprint across our solutions and track progress against their ESG targets.
This level of visibility and optimisation allows organisations to align cloud operations with their sustainability goals right from the outset.
Terry Maiolo – Cloud infrastructure is often one of the first and most critical decision to be made when entering a new market. It determines how fast you can launch and how flexibly you can scale. One of the biggest risks businesses face is becoming locked into a vendor’s ecosystem that limits their ability to innovate or move workloads freely without hidden costs.
What businesses should prioritise is openness, transparency and predictability. That means opting for cloud environments that support open-sourced technologies, offer transparent pricings and allow you to scale without penalties.
However, cost should never come at the expense of performance. A strong performance-to-price ratio ensures you are not forced to trade one for the other, but knowing you are getting reliable infrastructure at a fair and predictable cost. At OVHcloud, we work with the latest chipsets for our servers and operate our own fibre network, allowing us to provide low latency and high network quality across regions.
Businesses can also benefit from our fair and optimised prices as we operate a vertically integrated model, controlling the whole supply chain from designing, manufacturing, assembling and operating our own data centres to giving components a second or third life. This integrated value model, combined with our proprietary water cooling technology and efficient energy consumption, generates cost efficiencies that are directly passed on to our customers.
Ultimately, the right cloud partner should serve your growth strategy and provide you with agility, scale and long-term value while keeping costs predictable and under control.
Terry Maiolo – Entering a market like India comes with immense opportunity but also complexity, from navigating local regulations to ensuring infrastructure can scale responsibly and quickly. My key advice to organisations is to be intentional about your digital foundation from the start. The decisions you make on partners, infrastructure, compliance and sustainability will shape your long-term success. Look for partners with transparency, flexibility and alignment with your organisation’s values, especially around data sovereignty and sustainability.
Beyond India, businesses should also consider scalability across regions. With a global network of 46 datacentres and operations spanning four continents, OVHcloud is well positioned to support organisations as they expand locally, regionally or globally. Our global footprint allows us to deliver consistent performance, compliance and support wherever our customers go.
If those elements are in place, your cloud infrastructure becomes more than just a technical asset. It becomes your strategic advantage in the market that enables your operations to be even more resilient over time.
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