Airtel appoints Rajesh Tapadia as CEO of Nxtra Data

In an announcemnt released amidst the resignation of Vodafone Idea CEO Balesh Sharma, Bharti Airtel has announced the appointment of Rajesh Tapadia as its Chief Executive Officer of its data centre and cloud business - Nxtra Data.

Nxtra Data, a subsidiary of Airtel, offers data centre services, managed services and cloud services to top India and global enterprises, start-ups, SMEs and governments. It operates 10 large data centres along with 120 plus edge data centres located strategically across India and is building four new large data centres.

The data centre and cloud services market in India is witnessing tremendous growth driven by the rapid digitization of enterprises and uptake of digital services such as content and social media by customers. The segment is slated to grow to a USD Four Billion plus market by 2022 and Airtel with its integrated services portfolio and deep, secure networks is uniquely positioned to leverage this opportunity.

Commenting on the appointment Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia), said: “Digital India is transforming the economy and opening up exciting new opportunities to serve customers. The data centre and cloud segment is an important pillar in our strategy to address enterprise customers’ evolving needs. We have already undertaken some very ambitious projects in this area and our ambition is to leverage our strengths to gain disproportionate share in this space. I am confident that Rajesh with his stellar track record will add immense value to our plans. I welcome him to Airtel and wish him all the very best.”

Rajesh Tapadia has over 24 years experience with organisations like Netmagic Solutions, Trimax, Global Cloud Xchange, Genpact and Reliance Infocomm. In his most recent role in Netmagic Solutions as Chief Service Officer and Executive Director on the Board, Tapadia managed data centre operations across multiple cities, running mission-critical infrastructure for global customers. He has driven key initiatives on cybersecurity, multi-cloud and global managed services and also led the setting up of many prominent data centres in the country.