Bharti Airtel has announced a substantial investment of US$1 billion in its subsidiary, Nxtra Data Limited, aimed at expanding its data centre network across India. The investment round is led by Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle, and Anchorage Capital, with Bharti Airtel also participating.
Alpha Wave Global will contribute US$435 million, Carlyle US$240 million, and Anchorage Capital US$35 million, with the remaining amount infused by Airtel. The final shareholding of the investors will be subject to post-closing adjustments, while Airtel will retain a controlling stake in Nxtra. The transaction is pending regulatory approvals in India.
Nxtra, recognised as the first data centre company in India to deploy AI at scale, plans to use the proceeds to accelerate its growth plans. The company aims to scale its infrastructure and broaden its service offerings to meet the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government organisations.
The data centre sector in India is experiencing rapid growth, driven by digital transformation, cloud service adoption, and demand from hyperscalers. According to Savills India, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 21% from 2024 to 2030, reaching nearly 3,400 MW of IT capacity.
Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman of Airtel, stated, “At Nxtra, we have built one of India’s most advanced and sustainable data centre networks. With ~300 MW capacity today, we aim to scale to 1 GW in the next few years, targeting ~25% market share.”
Rick Gerson, Co-Founder & CIO of Alpha Wave Global, expressed excitement about partnering with Bharti Group to scale Nxtra into India’s leading data centre business.
Headquartered in New Delhi, Nxtra operates 14 large core data centres and over 120 edge facilities across India. It offers co-location, cloud infrastructure, managed hosting, data backup, disaster recovery, and edge computing services. The company is developing additional AI-ready campuses in Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata, and has partnered with Google for a gigawatt-scale AI data centre campus.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a regulatory filing submitted to the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE).