Data is Crucial for UP's Growth: Western Digital Official

Lucknow, Sep 13 (PTI) The data is crucial for any economy and content creation, generation and consumption will drive growth of Uttar Pradesh, said Khalid Wani, Senior Director of sales for India at Western Digital.

Tier-2 cities in India are becoming significant hubs for mobile phone users who are actively generating content, he said.

Wani was in Lucknow on Wednesday for the SanDisk mobile pen drives showcase featuring 2-in-1 flash drive for USB type-C and type-A devices.

"Somebody has coined this so well that data is the new oil. The importance of data for every country, and for every economy is fundamental to the growth of that economy...", he said while talking to PTI.

On the development of data storage devices from floppy disks to pen drives, Wani said, "The evolution is quite phenomenal... The idea behind SanDisk mobile pen drives is to make sure that consumers have the access and the ability to continue to expand their data storage facilities at a nominal cost."

Talking about Uttar Pradesh, Wani said the development of cities like Lucknow, Noida, and Ghaziabad as key financial hubs underscore the state's commitment to harnessing the growth potential.

"We have a very strong presence in the SEMICON (going on in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh). UP happens to be a very important market for us like the rest of India," he added.

On challenges of keeping the stored data intact, he said, "..We always recommend that one should always continue to back up their primary data as the cost of recovery of the lost data is substantially higher than the efforts made to back it up. Any data loss is equivalent to significant productivity loss. Nowadays, even small businesses and MSMEs cannot afford to do that.