NTT has entered into an agreement with the Prestige Group to develop a 100mw data centre in Bangalore with a million sq feet gross leasable area (GLA) of buildings over three phases, marking the south-based developer’s foray into the data-center business in India.
The total value of the transaction including land and infrastructure development cost is Rs 700 crore. The deal includes a total development of around one mn sq ft to be developed in three phases, with the first building expected to be delivered in 12 months. Prestige will construct three DC buildings of 350, 000 sqft for NTT.
“We see a huge opportunity in the data-center business, which is almost a corollary to our office business. The need for power and grade A Infrastructure that is critical for DC operations is drawing big operators to larger branded players like us,” said Juggy Marwaha, CEO, Prestige Office Venture.
“Commercial real estate is a very serious business and we are seeing consolidation happening all over our industry,” said Marwaha. With advancements in technology and the growing demands of operations, there has been a significant rise in the number of data centers in India in recent years.
NTT currently has 11 operational data centers in the country and is set to launch six additional data centers by June across Airoli and Mahape in Navi Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Chennai. NTT has about 22 percent market share for data centers in India.
NTT, the third-largest data center provider in the world, has invested about $4.5 billion in India since 2020, with the most recent tranche being a $2.5-billion MoU signed in Davos with Maharashtra to build data centres, submarine cables, and renewable energy plants in the state over the next five years.
Furthermore, grant of infrastructure status in budget 2022-23 will give impetus to DCs in Karnataka. Additionally, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission which aims to create one million jobs by 2025 and targets $150 billion in IT exports, would bolster demand for digitalization and data storage requirements in the state, particularly in Bangalore.
Demand for data centers in India is also rising due to improved technology infrastructure and the increasing adoption of new technologies like 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud and Internet of Things. In the past five years, $14 billion has been invested in India's data center sector, and the amount is expected to cross $20 billion by 2025, said commercial real estate consultancy CBRE.
