Blackstone-owned data centre platform, Lumina CloudInfra, plans to invest more than USD 300 million (around Rs 2,500 crore), to develop a hyperscale data centre campus at Airoli locality in Navi Mumbai. This would be the company's first data centre investment in India.
The move is part of the strategy by the global private equity fund's real estate and tactical opportunities funds to create mission-critical data infrastructure and strengthen its data center presence in Asia.
The Airoli centre, with capacity of over 60 MW of critical IT load, will be set up on a 6.3 acres of land parcel. The first phase of construction is expected to commence soon and is likely to be completed by 2025. Led by the increased data consumption, growth pattern and the onset of 5G and data localisation, the company is also considering a second data centre to be set up in Navi Mumbai’s Mahape locality.
Mumbai and Chennai are seen as preferred destinations for investment, and Mumbai accounts for 52 percent of the country’s total capacity with development of campus sizes. Further, the 5G-driven growth in video streaming, augmented reality, and digital commerce is expected to drive data usage and propel the growth of data centres. Furthermore, the government's new data centre policy is expected to provide necessary clearances and infrastructure in a timely manner.
Google, Microsoft and Amazon have already started set up up their hyperscale data centres in India.