Iron Mountain India appoints former Airtel Nxtra exec as data center business head

Storage and information management firm Iron Mountain has appointed Rajesh Tapadia as the vice president and chief executive officer (CEO) for data center business in India. The announcement was made by Arvind Subramanian, Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Iron Mountain. On LinkedIn, he wrote that Tapadia’s leadership and expertise will help establish the company as one of India’s leading data center platforms. 

Tapadia joins Iron Mountain from Nxtra, the data center arm of telecom giant Airtel. He was the executive director and COO at the company where he spent over five years. “After over five years of immense learning, growth, and collaboration, I find myself bidding farewell to a company that I’ve had the privilege of building, shaping, and growing with a team of exceptional people,” he posted LinkedIn.

“Looking back, I’m incredibly proud of how we transformed Nxtra into the preferred partner for hyperscalers and enterprises, not just by overcoming challenges but by setting new standards of excellence in the data center industry. From engineering and construction speed to capital optimisation, EHS, ESG, and compliance, we’ve consistently led the way while embracing digital-first operations.”

In the past, he has worked with companies such as Netmagic Solutions (now part of NTT), Trimax Data Center Services, Genpact, and Reliance Communications, among others. 

To be sure, Mumbai headquartered data centre solutions provider Web Werks entered into a joint venture with Boston, Massachusetts-based Iron Mountain in 2021. As part of this partnership, Iron Mountain invested $150 million in primary equity.

Last year, Web Werks — Iron Mountain Data Centers JV joined hands with Lightstorm, a hyperscale networking services company. The collaboration aims to enhance digital infrastructure for Indian enterprises and Internet Service Providers (ISPs), offering scalable, secure, and cost-effective solutions to meet the growing demands of the digital landscape.

India's data centre sector is set for significant growth, driven by a surge in data, supportive government policies, and advancements in sustainability and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This transformation is already underway, positioning the sector for an inflection point, according to a whitepaper published by TechCircle research unit.

The Indian data centre market is projected to grow from $6 billion in 2023 to $15 billion in 2030 at a CAGR of 14%, based on the average estimates of various analyst houses, as per the whitepaper.