Japanese tech services company NTT Data will continue to invest at a run rate of $500 million a year in its India data centre business as it scales up capacity in the country.
The company will focus on investments in organic capacity expansion, and has ruled out any acquisitions for the time being in the data centre space in India, Abhijit Dubey, president and CEO, NTT Data, said on Monday.
“We will not be a player in the consolidation game. We have one of the longest standing and the largest (data centre) platform already in India. So, we’re not going to be consolidating,” Dubey said.
The company invested $500 million in its data centre business in India in FY25 in addition to another $400 million spent on landing the new MIST undersea cable that will connect Malayasia, India, Singapore and Thailand through submarine cables. The 8,100-kilometre-long undersea cable has a landing station in Chennai.
Dubey, however, said that beyond the data centre segment, primarily in managed tech services, the company will continue to look at opportunities for acquisitions across startups that have built relevant capabilities that could be used to service NTT’s global client base.
NTT’s data centre business sits within NTT Data India, which is part of the global NTT Data Inc, the tech services arm of parent NTT Group. NTT Data India has the managed tech services business as well.
India is estimated to have a data centre capacity of 1 Gigawatt currently, of which, Dubey said, NTT commands a roughly 30% share, making it the largest in India. The firm has an operational capacity of 290 megawatts and another 210 megawatt planned capacity across five markets within India.
“Globally, India is in the top five markets by capacity. And for the entire NTT Data business, including managed services, India would be in the top 10 markets by revenue. In the next five years, it will easily be in the top five markets by revenue,” Dubey said.
NTT Data currently employs 40,000 people in India, making it the firm’s largest workforce outside of Japan. The firm last year introduced an upskilling programme across functions in order to keep up with the rising demand for skills from India.
Dubey explained that while Indian tech service companies have leveraged cost arbitrage to attract global clients for the past 20 years, it will be about leveraging skill arbitrage in the AI age as the demand-supply gap for skilled professionals continues to widen.
“You cannot hire your way out of this problem. Just let’s be clear. There is just not enough talent available anywhere in the world, not just India. And so, we have a very deliberate programme to upskill (and) reskill every single employee of the company, not just in India, (and) not just technical talent,” Dubey said.
