New Delhi, March 30 Bharti Airtel announced on Monday that its subsidiary, Nxtra Data, has secured an investment of USD 1 billion led by Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle, and Anchorage Capital.
Airtel, which will also participate in the investment round, will continue to maintain a controlling stake in Nxtra.
As part of the agreement, Alpha Wave Global will invest USD 435 million, Carlyle USD 240 million, and Anchorage Capital USD 35 million, with the remaining amount being provided by Airtel.
According to a release, Nxtra will be valued at around USD 3.1 billion after the transaction is completed.
The investment in Nxtra Data, which is involved in the data center business, will be used for expanding AI data centers and to fuel the next phase of growth.
The company said that the investors' shareholding will be subject to final adjustments after the transaction is completed, and that the deal is subject to regulatory approvals in the country.
Nxtra, the first data center company in India to deploy AI at scale for predictive maintenance, energy efficiency, and automated operations, intends to use the funds to accelerate its growth plans. The company plans to extensively expand its infrastructure and broaden its range of services, catering to the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government organizations across the country, the release added.
India's data center sector is witnessing rapid growth, driven by accelerating digital transformation across enterprises, rising adoption of cloud services, and expanding demand from hyperscalers.
According to a Savills India report, the Indian data center market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 21 per cent between 2024 and 2030, reaching nearly 3,400 MW of IT capacity.
"At Nxtra, we have built one of India's most advanced and sustainable data center networks, designed to meet the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government. With nearly 300 MW capacity today, we aim to scale to 1 GW in the next few years, targeting about 25 per cent market share," Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman, Airtel, said.
Strategic partnerships with global investors and technology leaders are central to the growth roadmap, "enabling us to accelerate expansion, harness world-class expertise, and deliver next-generation digital infrastructure solutions at scale," he said.
"With strong market demand, we are committed to increasing investments and strengthening India's position as a leading data center hub," Vittal added.
Headquartered in New Delhi, Nxtra operates 14 large core data centers and over 120 edge facilities across the country, offering co-location, cloud infrastructure, managed hosting, data backup, disaster recovery, and edge computing services. It has a facility in Pune and is developing additional AI-ready campuses in Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata.
Nxtra has recently partnered with Google to build a gigawatt-scale AI data center campus, backed by a USD 15-billion investment.