India’s data centre boom turns to IPOs as AI-driven capex surges

Surging demand for artificial intelligence (AI)-ready infrastructure is sharply raising capital needs, pushing operators to seek larger pools of capital for growth. Rapid adoption of data-heavy platforms and policy thrusts such as the government’s Digital India mission are also prompting several major players to tap public markets. Last week, Sify Infinit Spaces Ltd became the country’s first pure-play data centre company to receive a regulatory nod for a ₹3,700 crore initial public offering (IPO). Of this, ₹1,325 crore is earmarked as capital expenditure (capex) for its data centres. Yotta Infrastructure plans to pursue a domestic stock market listing before tapping US capital markets, reversing its earlier plans even as it keeps the option of a NASDAQ listing open under its existing structure, Sunil Gupta, chief executive officer of the data centre operator, told Mint, adding that the company could approach Indian markets as early as the next financial year, subject to execution. The Mumbai-based company, which operates large data centre campuses in Navi Mumbai and Noida, had earlier secured approvals to list its US parent entity following a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). Bharti Airtel's Nxtra Data Ltd is also said to be mulling a potential listing as scaling up becomes a key concern amid heightened competition from peers Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and Adani Enterprises Ltd, two people aware of the matter told Mint. While valuations for Nxtra's IPO are still not being discussed, back-of-the-envelope calculations by industry analysts peg the Carlyle-backed firm to be valued close to $3 billion, with Bharti's stake being worth over $2 billion, Mint has learnt. Queries emailed to Nxtra did not illicit a response at the time of publishing. CtrlS Datacenters Ltd, Asia’s largest top-rated data centre operator in terms of fault tolerance, is also looking at a public listing as capex needs to catch up, its chairman Sridhar Pinapureddy had told the media in 2025. Mint was unable get a comment from him at the time of publishing. The case for IPOs “As one of the world’s most populous nations with a high density of mobile users, India has seen a structural shift toward data-heavy platforms," said Narendra Solanki, head of fundamental research-investment services at Anand Rathi Share and Stock Brokers. Consequently, establishing and expanding local data centres is no longer optional but rather a competitive necessity to service these needs efficiently, he told Mint. “The business model for data centres is notoriously capital-intensive. IPOs will increasingly serve as effective methods for these businesses to quickly raise the necessary capital to expand domestic footprints," Solanki added. Beyond high capex requirement, data centre businesses in India are increasingly attractive IPO candidates for a few more reasons, Rohan Rao, partner at KPMG India told Mint. “With rising hyper scaler demand, supportive government policies, and growing investor appetite for yield-generating assets, they offer predictable growth and scalability that public markets are well positioned to reward," he said. To add some context, the country's data centre industry has grown at a rate of 25.47% annually from 2021 to 2025, and currently ranks among the fastest growing by capacity in the Asia-Pacific region, according to an October 2025 joint report by Lattice Technologies and Cushman & Wakefield India. However, India’s data centre industry is still at an early stage when benchmarked against global leaders. The US, for instance, has a built capacity nearly 18 times greater than that of India, while China’s is around 3.5 times larger. “Currently, India aligns more closely with the third tier of global markets, those with built capacities in the range of 1.3 to 1.6 GW, alongside countries such as Japan, Australia, and Canada. India's under-construction and planned data centre capacity over the next five years stands at approximately 2.7 GW with investments up to $20 billion," as per the report. Beyond IPOs Mint had reported in November 2025 that India saw $60 billion worth of total announcements in the data centre industry in the calendar year. Of this, nearly $53 billion has been announced cumulatively by RIL, Larsen and Toubro Ltd, the Adani and Tata groups, and the big tech trio of Google, Amazon, and Microsoft. This included Digital Connexion, RIL’s joint venture with Brookfield and Digital Realty, announcing an $11-billion investment over five years to set up a 1 GW data centre in Visakhapatnam. On top of this, L&T also announced plans to spend nearly $2.5 billion over five years to set up five data centres with net capacity of at least 300 MW. More recently, Google and Adani Enterprises have also announced a partnership to develop India’s largest AI data centre campus in Visakhapatnam. The project, valued at approximately $15 billion over five years, will include gigawatt-scale data centre operations. Interestingly, this venture, executed through Adani’s joint venture AdaniConneX, will be developed in collaboration with ecosystem partners including Airtel. “Large Indian players are currently leading the data centres race because the initial phase is largely a 'land game,' the future will be defined by partnerships and joint ventures," Manisha Girotra, chief executive at global i-bank Moelis & Company's India branch told Mint in an interview earlier this month. She highlighted that this is a sector that requires a combination of both local and global expertise. While domestic firms provide the land, scale, and infrastructure, global players bring the necessary AI capabilities. “You should expect to see a lot of activity through these joint ventures, particularly among large-cap companies." Looking ahead, rising concerns over data sovereignty are driving demand for locally stored data are likely to position India as a leading player in the global data centre industry, the Lattice-C&W report said.