Ascendas to invest Rs.1200 cr in the Data centre campus

Demand for data centres in India is rising due to improving technology infrastructure and increasing adoption of new technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud and the Internet of Things. These factors are expected to result in an expansion of India’s total data centre capacity at a compound annual growth rate of 31 percent to 1,007 MW by 2023.

To complement the efforts, Ascendas India Trust has announced that it will invest an estimated Rs 1200 crore to develop and operate phase one of its first data centre campus on a prime site in Navi Mumbai.

It will be one of the largest data centre campuses in Airoli, a growing data centre hub in Navi Mumbai. In the phase one, the first building, which is scheduled to be ready by 2Q 2024, will have a built-up area of about 325,000 sqft

The 6.6-acre greenfield site will be developed in phases into a fully-fitted data centre campus with a total potential built-up area of up to 575,000 square feet (sqft) and 90 megawatts (MW) of power to host customers such as global technology giants and cloud service providers, as well as large domestic enterprise clients, the company said.

Our entry into the data centre sector in India will diversify a-iTrust’s portfolio into an attractive and highly scalable asset class. India has the second fastest growing digital economy in the world.

The large market size combined with the increasing trends towards data localisation validates our market entry strategy,” said Sanjeev Dasgupta, chief executive officer of the trustee-manager of Ascendas India Trust.

He further said, we look to improve our portfolio resilience through diversification into new economy asset classes such as data centres and life sciences. As we grow further, we will continue to be prudent in our capital management and nimble in seizing investment opportunities, to maximise unitholders’ returns.”