Anant Raj to invest $2 billion on data centre boom
Ltd. plans to spend Rs 180 billion ($2.1 billion) on data centres as it joins a growing list of Indian companies looking to ride the boom in demand for artificial intelligence and business process-led services in the country.
The Delhi-based developer with a market value of $2.3 billion will launch two more data centres or server farms in the northern Indian state of Haryana. This is in addition to the one already operational, as it aims for a capacity of little over 300 megawatts by 2032, Amit Sarin, managing director at
Anant Raj
said.
For context, India's data centre capacity is poised to grow by 77% to 1.8 gigawatts in the next four years, according to a 2025 report by property consultant JLL.
'India is witnessing one of the fastest growth phases globally for data centres,' said Sarin in an interview, adding that the project will be funded through the company's own funds.
Anant Raj's move follows ambitious plans by India's top business houses Adani Group and
Reliance Industries
Ltd. to expand their footprint. The trend is underscored by Barclays Plc's view that the South Asian nation will be a big beneficiary of the
data centre investment
boom in Asia, driven by digitalization and rules requiring data to be stored within the country.
Smaller firms are not far behind. Bengaluru-based RMZ Corp. is spending $1.7 billion on two data centres and Panchshil Realty is considering partnering with Blackstone Inc. to build a large data centre in Mumbai.
Data centres are expected to make up more than 40% of Anant Raj's revenues in the next four years from 5% at present, Sarin said. The company tied up with the French IT company Orange Business to provide cloud services to its clients along with data centres last year.
'India currently generates 28% of the world's data but houses only 1% of it locally, presenting a significant opportunity for expansion as data localization becomes inevitable,' Sarin said.
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