Bharti Airtel announced a $1 billion investment in its data centre arm, Nxtra Data led by global investors Alpha Wave Global, The Carlyle Group and Anchorage Capital Group. As part of the investment, Alpha Wave Global will invest $435 million, Carlyle will infuse $240 million, and Anchorage Capital will invest $35 million. Airtel will contribute the remaining amount.
Bharti Airtel in its regulatory filing said that it will continue to retain a controlling stake in Nxtra. The company will also participate in the funding round and retain a controlling stake in Nxtra.
Airtel’s Nxtra to be valued at $3.1 billion after fresh investment
Nxtra will be valued around $3.1 billion post-closing of the transaction, according to a release.
The investment in Nxtra Data, would be utilised for AI data center expansion and to fuel the next phase of growth.
Nxtra – the first data center company in India to deploy AI at scale for predictive maintenance, energy efficiency, and automated operations – intends to deploy proceeds from the fund infusion to accelerate its growth plans.
“It plans to extensively scale its infrastructure and broaden its portfolio of services, catering to the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government organisations across the country,” Airtel said in its regulatory release.
About Nxtra
Nxtra already operates 14 core data centres and over 120 edge facilities across the country. It offers services including co-location, cloud infrastructure, managed hosting, data backup, disaster recovery and edge computing.
According to an Airtel release Nxtra has integrated artificial intelligence into its operations for predictive maintenance, energy efficiency and automation, making it one of the first data centre companies in India to deploy AI at scale.
The company currently has around 300 MW capacity and aims to scale this to 1 GW over the next few years. It is targeting nearly 25% market share in India’s fast-growing data centre sector.
Nxtra is expanding its footprint with new AI-ready campuses in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata, along with a major facility in Pune. The company has also partnered with Google to build a gigawatt-scale AI data centre campus backed by a $15 billion investment.
Airtel’s Nxtra eyes 1 GW data center scale, bets on global partnerships
“At Nxtra, with approximately 300 MW capacity today, we aim to scale to 1 GW in the next few years, targeting ~25% market share,” Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman of Airtel, said.
“Strategic partnerships with global investors and technology leaders are central to our growth roadmap, enabling us to accelerate expansion, harness world-class expertise, and deliver next-generation digital infrastructure solutions at scale. With strong market demand, we are committed to stepping up investments and strengthening India’s position as a leading data center hub,” Mittal added.
India data centre demand on the rise
India’s data centre market is witnessing strong growth, driven by rising digital adoption, increasing cloud usage and demand from hyperscalers. The growing use of AI platforms such as ChatGPT is also expected to boost demand for data infrastructure.
According to a Savills India report, the market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 21% between 2024 and 2030, reaching nearly 3,400 MW of IT capacity.