A fire that broke out in early June at a data centre in New Delhi operated by STT Global Data Centres India and Tata has sparked widespread concern within the technology sector, after signs emerged that sensitive data spanning decades had been lost by a number of customers, alongside disruptions to services linked to the Google Cloud platform in India.
The incident is considered one of the most serious outages to strike India's data centre sector in recent years, particularly given that the facility is owned by a partnership between Singapore's ST Telemedia and Tata Communications, and serves hundreds of domestic and international companies, including firms listed on the Fortune 500.
Documents and messages reviewed by Reuters reveal that the fire caused damage described as "severe" in parts of the facility, complicating efforts to recover affected data and systems. Footage from the site showed server racks and electrical infrastructure completely burned out, along with sections of collapsed ceilings and debris scattered across operational halls.
Indian company Matrix Cellular, which specialises in international SIM cards, is facing significant challenges after losing access to operational and commercial data accumulated over more than 20 years. The company's chief executive, Gaurav Khanna, said backups had not been restored even after approximately three weeks had passed since the incident, raising questions about the effectiveness of disaster recovery plans.
The impact of the fire extended to some Google Cloud services in India, with the company noting in technical updates that a fire at a third-party data centre had forced it to shut down networking equipment on an emergency basis. Although the facility was not named directly, sources familiar with the matter confirmed the incident was linked to the affected STT-Tata site.
In its most recent update, Google warned customers that some operational delays would continue until restoration work was completed, while a full resolution remained unavailable.
For its part, STT Global Data Centres India confirmed it was providing support to affected customers and migrating them to alternative capacity where possible, noting that the initial impact was confined to a single data hall and its associated infrastructure, while the rest of the facility continued to operate normally. It also indicated that an independent technical investigation to determine the root causes of the fire was still under way and could take several weeks.
The incident adds fresh pressure on the Tata Group, which has recently faced other challenges including reports of cybersecurity incidents and alleged data leaks linked to major clients in the technology sector.
The episode highlights the growing risks facing digital infrastructure globally, where a single incident at a data centre can affect cloud services, companies, and institutions that rely entirely on data for their daily operations — once again drawing attention to the importance of backup systems and disaster recovery in the age of the digital economy.
Tata's chief executive, Gaurav Khanna, told Reuters: "Matrix may have lost access to operational and commercial data accumulated over more than 20 years, stored in the affected Tata data centre."
He added: "20 days have passed and the backup has not been restored. If there were a backup, it should have been restored by now." Google stated on its incidents page on 9 June that "a fire broke out at a third-party data centre, requiring the emergency shutdown of networking equipment," without naming Tata.
A source, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, indicated that the incident involved the same STT-Tata site.
In its latest update dated 23 June, Google said no workaround was currently available and warned customers of the possibility of response delays until the centre was fully restored.