In a bid to attract investments and encourage private firms to build data centre parks in the state, Haryana Government is all set to launch its “Data Centre Policy” which proposes incentives in form of subsidy and exemption for land, power, water and allied infrastructure.

The policy, which is likely to be released soon, aims to give a boost to the data centre industry in big cities like cyber city-Gurugram and Faridabad and also, attract big investments in cities like Panipat, Hisar, Yamunanagar among others.

The State Government has planned to give “infrastructure” status to the data centre sector to enable the industry to avail long-term credit from lenders at easier terms and, in turn, boost investment in this space. Apart from this, the Data Centre Parks (DCPs) and Data Centre Units (DCUs) will be declared as an energy intensive industry and considered essential service under Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act, which means that the services will be available during calamities or crises as well.

“Data Centre Units, covered under the policy, will be declared as a separate infrastructure industry. The Data Centre infrastructure will be a separate entity under the Haryana Building Code providing relaxed FAR and Building Design Requirement Norms,” stated the policy.

“The policy aims to generate more employment opportunities and create an ecosystem to give a boost to the data centre industry across the state. The government plans to launch the policy soon,” said a senior official of the State Government while talking to The Pioneer.

The official said that the State Government wants to develop Haryana as a data centre hub in the country. We will offer incentives to attract data centre companies to shift their base to the state.

The Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala had met various stakeholders to seek their suggestions on the policy. The government has focused on ease of doing business and proposed single window clearance in a time bound manner for creation of data centres,” the official added.

Under the policy, the government has proposed that all  approvals  related  to  construction  of DCP/DCU like building plan approval, temporary power connection, fire fighting scheme and consent to establish amongst others shall be given in ten working days of acceptance of application.

The approvals for provisions like  –  permanent  power  connection,  occupation  certificate  and consent  to  operate  among  others  are proposed to be given to  the  data  centre operational  in  data centre parks within  15  working  days  of  acceptance  of application.

The policy also proposed 100 percent reimbursement of stamp duty paid on sale or lease deeds paid on the first transaction for setting up a DCP or DCU.

Other key features of the policy include capital assistance for setting up water treatment or recycling   plants   and   water conservation and harvesting tanks in or around DCPs/ DCUs, at least

75 percent net SGST reimbursement  for DCUs  operational  in  the  state for  a period of 10 years provided it meets a certain criteria, 100 percent property tax abatement for seven years for  DCUs operational in the state notified DCPs.

Besides, the right of  way  is proposed to be provided free of cost as per the  guidelines  under State  Communication  and  Connectivity  Infrastructure  Policy,  2017. The permission of right  of  way  for  DCPs  shall  be processed  online  through  single  roof  clearance

The state has also planned to implement a  Dial  Before  You  Dig  Policy  (DBYDP)  to allow authorities responsible for carrying out construction work to access information about underlying network cabling infrastructure before digging in order to minimize cable breaks.