Reliance To Invest $122 Million For Data Center Projects In India

Indian billionaire businessman Mukesh Ambani‘s company, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has made an agreement to invest in data centers in India along with Canada-based Brookfield Infrastructure and U.S.-based Digital Realty.

These data centers are being developed through special purpose vehicles (SPVs), which are separate entities created for specific projects.

RIL will hold a 33.33% stake in each of the Indian SPVs, making them an equal partner in the joint venture. The partnership between Brookfield Infrastructure, Reliance Industries, and Digital Realty will be known as “Digital Connexion: A Brookfield, Jio, and Digital Realty Company.”

The joint venture is focused on developing high-quality, highly-connected, and scalable data centers to meet the growing demand for digital services in India.

The first data center being developed by the JV is a 20-megawatt facility in Chennai, expected to be completed by the end of 2023. They have also acquired land in Mumbai to build another 40-megawatt data center.

India’s data center market is expected to experience significant growth, with a projected 40% annual increase and attracting around $5 billion in investments by 2025.

Reliance’s investment in this venture is initially around 3.78 billion Indian rupees, and they have committed to investing an additional 6.22 billion rupees in equity and debt securities of the JV’s units when required.

The expansion of data center capacity in India comes as more people gain access to the internet and use digital services like OTT platforms, gaming, and mobile data, especially with the ongoing rollout of 5G.

Data centers are crucial for storing and processing the vast amounts of data generated by digital services, and the demand for them is rapidly growing in the country.

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Reliance’s entry into the data center space further intensifies the competition, as other companies like Adani Enterprises have also raised significant funds to support their data center projects in India.