Bharati Airtel's data centre subsidiary, Nxtra, is in the process of raising $1 billion (approximately ₹9,400 crore) in a funding round led by Alpha Wave Global, alongside existing investor Carlyle.
According to a statement from Bharti Airtel, Alpha Wave will contribute $435 million (₹4,107 crore) and Carlyle will invest $240 million (₹2,266 crore). Additionally, Anchorage Capital is set to invest $35 million (₹330.5 crore), with Airtel itself providing the remaining $290 million (₹2,738 crore).
This funding round values Nxtra at about $3.1 billion (₹29,270 crore). Following the investment, Airtel will maintain a controlling interest in the data centre company, pending regulatory approvals from Indian authorities.
Nxtra plans to utilize these funds to accelerate growth, expand its infrastructure, and enhance its service offerings. Gopal Vittal, Airtel’s executive vice-chairman, stated, "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 around 25% market share."
This funding comes nearly six years after Carlyle Group's initial investment of $235 million in Nxtra for a 25% stake in 2020.
Based in Delhi NCR, Nxtra provides data centre services to a diverse clientele, including Indian and global enterprises, startups, SMEs, and government entities. Its services encompass co-location, cloud infrastructure, and edge computing.
Nxtra operates 14 large core data centers and over 120 edge facilities throughout India. The company is also developing additional AI-ready campuses in Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata.
The current fundraising effort aligns with a growing demand for secure data centres driven by increased digital service usage and cloud adoption among enterprises. Moreover, favorable operating costs and government incentives are further encouraging the establishment of data centres in India.
In the recent Budget 2026 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed a tax holiday for foreign cloud service providers until 2047, along with a 15% safe harbour on costs for companies offering data centre services from India.
As a result, both Indian conglomerates and global tech giants are rapidly expanding their data centre presence in the country. Notably, Adani Group announced a $100 billion investment to develop renewable energy-powered data centres by 2035.
Additionally, Adani is in discussions with major tech firms like Meta and Google to explore partnerships for its data centre initiatives. Meanwhile, Reliance plans to construct a 3 GW facility in Jamnagar and a 1 GW project in Visakhapatnam, while Amazon aims to invest $12.7 billion in cloud infrastructure in India by 2030.
Industry projections indicate that India’s installed data centre capacity is expected to double year-on-year to 2 GW by the end of 2026, with further growth anticipated to reach 8 GW by 2030. According to the Economic Survey 2024-25, the homegrown data centre market is projected to reach a size of $11.6 billion by 2032.
