A fire at a major data centre facility in Delhi's Greater Kailash has disrupted Google traffic, affected multiple internet service providers (ISPs) and raised concerns about the resilience of India's digital infrastructure.
According to reporting by The Hindu, the blaze damaged servers, routers and networking equipment belonging to several companies, including large technology firms and local telecom operators. While no fatalities were reported, the incident is expected to result in significant equipment, data and revenue losses, with industry participants estimating the impact could run into hundreds of crores of rupees.
The fire occurred at a facility operated by ST Telemedia Global Data Centres (STT GDC) from premises leased within a building owned by Tata Communications.
Fire breaks out in critical infrastructure hub
The Delhi Fire Service received its first alert regarding the incident at 2:45 a.m. on June 5, with fire personnel reaching the site within minutes.
According to Assistant Divisional Officer Y.S. Meena, the blaze originated in a battery room on the third floor and was categorised as a "Make 4" fire, indicating a major incident.
Key details reported include:
- Fire reported at approximately 2:45 a.m.
- Blaze originated in the third-floor battery room
- Ten fire tenders were deployed
- Firefighting operations continued for several hours
- Two firefighters sustained injuries
- Damage was ultimately contained to the third floor
- No loss of life was reported
A local police official told The Hindu that preliminary indications suggested a short circuit may have triggered the fire. The cause remains under review.
Google infrastructure among affected assets
The facility housed equipment belonging to multiple organisations through a co-location model, under which companies place their own servers and networking infrastructure within a shared data centre.
According to Sanjay Singh of internet service provider R2 Net, approximately 200 server racks were located on the affected floor.
Singh told The Hindu that roughly 50 racks belonged to Google, which maintained a dedicated infrastructure area within the facility.
While Google did not respond to requests for comment cited in the report, industry experts said the impact extended beyond the immediate site because of Google's central role in internet traffic delivery.
Anurag Bhatia, a networking expert cited by The Hindu, noted that Google accounts for as much as half of a typical internet user's traffic in India.
He said the disruption affected networks beyond those directly hosted in the facility, amplifying the outage across the broader internet ecosystem.
Recovery efforts expose business continuity challenges
The incident highlighted the operational risks facing organisations that rely on centralised digital infrastructure.
Several internet service providers reported losing connectivity at around 2:30 a.m., before formal notification of the fire.
One ISP told The Hindu it restored operations by June 8 after rerouting traffic through equipment located on other floors. Another operator said both its primary and backup systems were housed on the same rack, forcing it to divert traffic through lower-capacity backup infrastructure and affecting customer experience.
The disruption also altered internet traffic patterns.
According to Shailendra Parmar, Director of Technology at Hybrid Internet, a significant portion of Google traffic shifted from lower-cost private peering arrangements to more expensive transit routes following the incident.
Questions emerge over losses and data recovery
Industry participants said the full financial impact may take time to assess.
Singh estimated that his company alone had lost around ₹2 crore worth of equipment.
Meanwhile, Raunak Maheshwari, Country Head of Megaport Ltd, told The Hindu that losses extended beyond physical hardware and could include data that may not be recoverable.
When asked about estimates suggesting losses could exceed ₹500 crore, Maheshwari said equipment damage alone could run into hundreds of crores given the scale of the facility.
"The cost of the data, who knows that?" he told the publication.
STT GDC declined to comment on the commercial value of damaged equipment but stated that some customers' servers had been safely migrated.
Digital resilience under scrutiny
Data centre fires remain relatively rare because facilities typically employ specialised fire suppression systems and operate with strict safety controls. However, the Delhi incident has drawn attention to the growing dependence of businesses, internet providers and technology platforms on shared infrastructure facilities.
STT GDC said it is working with affected customers to assess impacts, support business continuity planning and make relocation arrangements where required.
As India's digital economy continues to expand, the incident serves as a reminder that behind every online service lies a physical infrastructure network whose disruption can ripple across businesses, consumers and technology platforms far beyond the site of the original incident.