The Information Technology industry in India has increased its contribution to India’s GDP from 6.1% in 2009-10 to 6.4% in 2010-11. According to NASSCOM, India’s IT–BPO sector aggregated revenues of US$ 88.1 billion or Rs. 4.4 lakh crores in FY2011.
The combination of several factors makes India an attractive country for foreign investors, particularly foreign investment in internet-based businesses.
India is the 5th largest economy globally, ranking above France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Russia.
India has the 3rd largest GDP in the entire continent of Asia. It is also the 2nd largest among emerging nations based on Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).
India’s position between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal makes it the crossroads for access between Africa, the Middle East, and the rest of Asia.
India’s large market, growing economy, progressive government initiatives to foster IT and telecommunications growth, and significant access to global networks make it ripe for continued growth and represent an excellent risk-reward profile for internet businesses.
Mumbai, in particular, is the largest urban center in India; it is at the heart of Indian commerce and the seat of its largest corporations. Mumbai offers one of the country’s most robust telecommunications infrastructures and ample access to a variety of worldwide and regional submarine fiber optic cable systems.
In addition, Mumbai has a significant presence of multinational companies such as Kodak, Heinz, Monsanto, Warner Bros, FedEx, Bank of America, Bankers Trust, Parke Davis, Intel, JP Morgan Chase, Kellogg, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, AIG, Exxon-Mobil, Delta, Siemens, Roche, Bayer, BASF, Philips, BP and many more.
India and Mumbai, in particular, have become primary destinations for offshore outsourcing as foreign companies seek to increase the efficiency of their various operations through India’s IT-BPO expertise.
An increasing number of banks, brokerages, financial houses, internet companies, manufacturing companies, etc., are choosing to co-locate their IT infrastructure, especially data centers, in India.
IT operations are a crucial aspect of most organizational operations. One of the main concerns of all these businesses is business continuity. Companies rely on their information systems to run their operations, and company operations may be impaired or stopped if a system becomes unavailable.
For example, a large bank or hospital data center going down for even a few seconds may cause disruptions and have a ripple effect of mammoth proportions due to the interconnected nature of business activities in the 21st century.
Therefore, the Indian IT industry must provide its clients with an assurance of reliable infrastructure for IT operations to minimize any disruption.
Suffice it to say that the buildings that house these data centers have “zero tolerance” for leakages and dampness, given the equipment’s criticality.
India’s four-month-long annual monsoon rains do little to help the situation. Given these factors, if anybody has adopted conventional waterproofing methods, materials, technologies, and specifications, it has led to disastrous consequences.
Consequently, based on identifying this critical pain point of the IT industry based on interactions and problem-solving with numerous large data center companies, Sunanda Global’s Concrete Materials Consultancy Division has developed a specialized set of specifications and developed a high-performance, user-friendly, specialized liquid applied, moisture-cured, high strength and high elasticity, modified polyurethane membrane.
FLEXIROOF PU is specifically for the IT industry, which ensures a 100% leak-proof data center. This product uses a state-of-the-art vapour barrier system of SUNEPISEAL and SUNEPITOP.
This system has been successfully executed at several large data center projects, three of which will be presented as case studies in further articles.
Sunanda Global first outlined the nature of the problem faced at each of the three job sites. Sunanda Global then went on to present a general scheme that has been successfully implemented by Sunanda Global’s Concrete Materials Consultancy Division to neutralize the waterproofing problems, classified as acute pain areas faced by the Indian IT industry.
- Case Study I – Edelweiss/IBM
2. Case Study II – GPX Global Systems
3. Case Study III – Harvard Business School/Taj Lands’ End
About author
Ms. Ishita Manjrekar is a director at Sunanda Speciality Coatings Pvt. Ltd. She oversees Sunanda Global’s R&D, specifically focusing on developing and marketing Sunanda Global’s line of sustainable construction chemicals.
In this role, Ishita draws on 4 years of rich experience in sustainability at Primary Global Research in San Francisco and New York. While at Primary Global Research, Ishita led the “Green Technologies” business unit.
She has been invited to feature on Bloomberg TV and Bloomberg Radio numerous times as a subject matter expert on sustainability and green technologies.
Multiple print media have also sought Ms. Manjrekar’s expertise, including Reuters, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Forbes, BBC News, and Market Watch. Ms. Manjrekar has traveled to over 20 countries and regularly publishes research papers on sustainability and green construction chemicals in journals of national and international repute.
Most recently, she was invited to present a paper on sustainable solutions being developed in Sunanda’s ISO 9001:2008 certified R&D lab at ACI’s Spring Convention in Pittsburgh, USA.
Ishita also spoke on the latest innovations in sustainable underwater concreting practices at the International Conference on Sustainability organized by the India Chapter of the American Concrete Institute in Mumbai.
As an expert in green construction chemicals, Ishita is often invited to be on peer review panels for papers published in National and International publications.
Ms. Manjrekar holds a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai (erstwhile UDCT). She also has a Master’s in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer (RPI) in New York, USA.
