The government of the Indian state of Odisha has approved construction of a disaster recovery data center on the south campus of Dharanidhar University, in Keonjhar district, with a budget of 176.83 crore rupees (₹1,768.3 million, about $18.62 million). The facility will back up the state data center in the capital, Bhubaneswar, so the administration’s digital services keep running if that center is hit by a power outage, a cyberattack, or a natural disaster.
Odisha’s backup data center in 20 seconds
- Odisha’s Cabinet approved the project in mid-October.
- It costs 176.83 crore rupees, about $18.62 million, including five years of operation.
- It will duplicate the Bhubaneswar center, which has been running since 2011, in Keonjhar.
- Construction is estimated at around nine months, though there’s no official opening date.
The decision came out of a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. According to the UNI news agency, the state’s chief secretary, Anu Garg, later told reporters that the center, officially defined as a DR-cum-DC (disaster recovery center and data center), will ensure continuous availability of the government’s common databases and platforms, and will support digital services for citizens and businesses. One detail worth clarifying: the web address of Analytics India Magazine’s story lists the figure as 17683, without the decimal comma, but the approved amount is 176.83 crore — about a hundred times smaller than it would be if read as 17,683 crore.
What the Project Includes and How It’s Funded
The Keonjhar center will have its own power supply, cooling, network connectivity, and computing infrastructure, so it can operate independently of the one in Bhubaneswar. According to Analytics India Magazine, the project includes storage, backup systems, networking and cybersecurity equipment, as well as secure data replication, centralized monitoring, and recovery mechanisms following a cyberattack. The state government hasn’t published the facility’s power capacity or rack capacity.
Data Center Dynamics breaks down the budget: about $16.22 million corresponds to capital investment, and around $2.4 million to operating costs over five years. More than $17 million will come from a grant from the Fifth State Finance Commission, with the rest from the budget that the Department of Electronics and Information Technology dedicates to maintaining the state’s data centers. The same outlet reports that Krystal Integrated Services has been contracted to work on the project and that construction would take around nine months, though there’s no official date for going live.
The amount approved now doesn’t match the figure announced at the outset. In February, when Majhi laid the foundation stone in Keonjhar alongside that of a textile park, the Odisha Bytes newspaper put the center’s cost at 187 crore rupees, with development led by the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC), the state’s technology agency. None of the sources explain the roughly 10-crore difference between the two figures.
Why Keonjhar and Not Another City
A recovery center only works if it’s far enough from the main one to avoid being hit by the same incident. Bhubaneswar sits close to the Bay of Bengal coast, exposed to cyclones, while Keonjhar lies inland in the north of the state. At the February ceremony, Majhi argued that Keonjhar’s low seismic risk makes the district a suitable location for the data center, presenting it as part of a plan for the area to stop being known only for its mines and steel.
The sources don’t agree on the scope of the main center. Data Center Dynamics states that the one in Bhubaneswar hosts more than 600 government applications, while in February reports cited more than 400 online services. That isn’t necessarily a contradiction, since applications and services aren’t the same thing, but the government hasn’t published an inventory. The state also plans to modernize that main center, without detailing how much it will cost.
A Small Project in a Fast-Growing Market
At around $18 million, the Keonjhar center is a modest investment next to the major campuses announced across India, where installed capacity is already approaching 2 GW. Its interest lies elsewhere: it shows how regional governments are starting to treat the continuity of their digital services as critical infrastructure, with their own secondary center instead of relying on a single location. Odisha is also attracting private investment, with data centers under development from CtrlS and from Indian Financial Technologies and Allied Services, according to Data Center Dynamics, along with plans announced by the central government in 2025 for a subsea cable landing station in the state.
That expansion comes with costs India is still measuring, as an analysis of the pressure data centers put on electricity and water in the country has noted. In Keonjhar’s case, the government hasn’t published either the expected power draw or the consumption of the facility.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does the Keonjhar data center cost?
Odisha’s Cabinet approved 176.83 crore rupees, about $18.62 million, covering the investment and five years of operation. In February, reports had cited 187 crore.
What is a disaster recovery center for?
It keeps a working copy of the main center’s systems in another location, so services keep running if that center goes down due to a power outage, a cyberattack, or a natural disaster.
When will it be ready?
According to Data Center Dynamics, construction would take around nine months. The Odisha government hasn’t published an official launch date.
Sources:
- Analytics India Magazine: Odisha Approves ₹176.83 Crore Disaster Recovery Data Centre in Keonjhar
- Data Center Dynamics: India’s Odisha govt approves $18.62m data center project
- UNI: Cabinet approves DR-cum-DC in Keonjhar
- Odisha Bytes: Odisha CM lays stone for Rs 100 cr textile park, Rs 187 cr disaster recovery data centre in Keonjhar
