Pranav Hotkar
Mumbai, India – March 9, 2026 - Bharti Airtel is preparing to raise about USD 1 billion for its data center subsidiary Nxtra Data Limited as the telecom operator accelerates investment in digital infrastructure to support rising demand for cloud and artificial intelligence workloads in India.
According to media reports citing people familiar with the discussions, the proposed funding round could bring in global investment firm Alpha Wave Global as a new investor alongside existing stakeholders. The deal structure under consideration would include approximately USD 400 million from Alpha Wave Global, with Airtel and private equity firm The Carlyle Group each contributing about USD 300 million.
The capital infusion is expected to be raised through a combination of a rights issue and preferential allotment, with proceeds directed toward expanding Nxtra’s data center footprint across India. The investment would represent one of the largest funding rounds for a data center platform in the country.
Nxtra is currently one of India’s largest data center operators, providing colocation and interconnection services to enterprises, cloud providers, and telecom networks. The company operates multiple facilities across major metropolitan markets, including Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Kolkata, and Hyderabad.
The planned fundraising is part of Airtel’s broader strategy to significantly scale Nxtra’s infrastructure capacity in response to surging demand for high-density computing environments required for artificial intelligence applications. Industry analysts estimate that India’s total data center capacity currently stands at roughly 1.4 gigawatts, but could grow to nearly 10 gigawatts over the next decade as cloud adoption and AI deployments accelerate.
People familiar with the matter said the fresh capital could help Nxtra expand its data center capacity toward the gigawatt scale over the coming years, positioning the company to compete with other large digital infrastructure players investing in hyperscale facilities across the country.
The move comes as India experiences a wave of investments in AI-ready data centers, driven by demand from hyperscale cloud providers, technology companies, and enterprises deploying generative AI applications.
Global investment firms and infrastructure funds have increasingly targeted India’s digital infrastructure sector, viewing the country’s large internet user base, rapidly expanding cloud market, and supportive policy environment as key drivers of long-term growth.
If finalized, the new funding round would strengthen Nxtra’s position in India’s evolving data center market and provide additional resources to develop large-scale facilities capable of supporting next-generation AI computing workloads.
