A fire at a New Delhi data centre used by global technology firms has raised fears of significant data loss and disrupted Google Cloud services in India, according to reporting and company statements reviewed by Reuters.
The blaze broke out on June 5 at the Greater Kailash-I facility operated by STT GDC India, a joint venture backed by Singapore’s ST Telemedia and Tata Communications. Delhi fire officials said the fire appears to have started in lithium battery units, though the exact cause remains under investigation.
Tata Communications’ unit Novamesh said in a June 15 letter that the fire caused “extensive damage” to parts of the facility and hindered recovery efforts. One affected customer told Reuters it had lost more than two decades of data.
Google Cloud said the fire triggered an emergency shutdown of networking equipment, isolating a local point of presence in Delhi and reducing network capacity across the region. The company said customers in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and surrounding areas experienced intermittent latency and possible packet loss.
In its latest update on June 23, Google said there was still no workaround and warned customers to expect latency issues until the site is fully restored. STT GDC India said it was carrying out a technical root-cause analysis expected to take five to seven weeks.
The incident has also drawn attention to the risks of lithium-ion battery backup systems that are increasingly used in data centres. Initial assessments suggest the damage was largely confined to a single data hall and related infrastructure, but the episode has renewed concerns about resilience in India’s cloud infrastructure.
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