Bharti Airtel, along with global investors Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle and Anchorage Capital, has invested $1 billion in Nxtra Data Ltd to accelerate its AI-driven data centre expansion and fuel the next phase of growth.
As part of the transaction, Alpha Wave Global will invest $435 million, Carlyle $240 million, Anchorage Capital $35 million, with the balance infused by Airtel. Post-investment, Nxtra is valued at around $3.1 billion, with Airtel retaining a controlling stake.
Scaling AI-led infrastructure
Nxtra, a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, is focused on scaling its digital infrastructure to meet rising demand from enterprises, hyperscalers and government organisations.
The company has been leveraging AI for predictive maintenance, energy efficiency and automated operations, positioning itself as a frontrunner in India’s evolving data centre ecosystem.
Strong sector tailwinds
India’s data centre sector is witnessing rapid growth, driven by accelerating digital transformation, rising cloud adoption and increasing demand from hyperscalers.
According to a Savills India report, the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of about 21% between 2024 and 2030, reaching nearly 3,400 MW of IT capacity.
Leadership commentary
“At Nxtra, we have built one of India’s most advanced and sustainable data centre networks, designed to meet the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government. With 300 MW capacity today, we aim to scale to 1 GW in the next few years, targeting 25% market share,” Bharti Airtel Executive Vice Chairman, Gopal Vittal 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 centre hub,” Vittal said.
“We have built a strong partnership with Airtel and continue to believe Nxtra is well-positioned to benefit from India’s long-term digital infrastructure tailwinds. The company has made significant progress in expanding its capabilities, strengthening customer relationships and building a scalable platform,” Carlyle India Advisors Partner Kapil Modi said.
“Alpha Wave has a particular focus on identifying and backing AI-first businesses including Anthropic, OpenAI, Cerebras, SpaceX, X.ai, Ramp, Cognition and Long Lake Management,” Alpha Wave Global Co-Founder & CIO Rick Gerson said.
“India has an immense AI opportunity ahead of it. As such India is set to see its data centre capacity grow meaningfully to keep up with hyperscaler and LLM demand,” Alpha Wave Global Co-Founder Navroz D. Udwadia said.
Expansion roadmap
Headquartered in New Delhi, Nxtra operates 14 core data centres and over 120 edge facilities across India, offering services such as co-location, cloud infrastructure, managed hosting, disaster recovery and edge computing.
The company recently partnered with Google to build a gigawatt-scale AI data centre campus backed by a $15 billion investment, further strengthening its growth pipeline.