October 26, 2025
A strategic shift is underway in India's real estate sector, as several of the country's leading developers channel their vast resources into building the backbone of the digital economy: data centers. Driven by explosive growth in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and digital transactions, these traditional builders are transforming into "digital landlords," investing billions to construct high-security, high-density data center facilities across the nation.
This move leverages their significant financial strength, large land banks, and core construction expertise, often in partnership with global technology firms, to meet the infrastructure demands of the world's fastest-growing internet economy.
Leading Developers and Their Data Center Ventures
Anant Raj Limited:
Through its subsidiary Anant Raj Cloud, the company has committed over ₹10,000 crore (approximately $1.2 billion) to develop a portfolio with a targeted capacity exceeding 300 MW by 2031-32. With campuses in Manesar, Panchkula, and Rai, Haryana, the company is collaborating with Orange Business and has raised capital via a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP) to fuel this growth. It currently has 28 MW of live operational capacity.
Yotta Infrastructure (A Hiranandani Group Company):
Yotta operates some of India's largest Tier IV data centers in Navi Mumbai, Noida, and Gujarat, with future developments planned in Pune, Powai, and Chennai. The company is launching AI-ready hyperscale centers, including a significant AI Cloud campus in Hyderabad, and is expanding internationally with projects in Dhaka and Nepal.
Lodha Group:
The developer is establishing a massive 370-acre "Green Integrated Data Centre Park" in Palava City, near Mumbai, with a planned investment of ₹30,000 crore (~$3.6 billion). The park aims to generate 2 GW of power capacity and create 6,000 jobs. Separately, Lodha has sold 24 acres in Mumbai to STT Global Data Centres for a hyperscale data center buildout.
Prestige Group:Prestige is rapidly entering the sector with projects in Bengaluru (a 100 MW facility with NTT) and Pune. The company's strategy focuses on building core and shell infrastructure for hyperscalers like AWS to lease and operate, with a construction cycle of 3–5 years and expansion plans for Mumbai, Chennai, and the National Capital Region (NCR).
L&T (Through Cloudfiniti):
Larsen & Toubro is investing ₹3,600–₹4,000 crore to develop new hyperscale data centers in Mumbai and Bengaluru. This will increase its capacity from the current 32 MW across two operational centers to 150 MW by 2027. The company offers integrated services, from design to construction, and has built one of India's largest data centers in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu (30 MW).
Keystone Realtors (Rustomjee):
The company has allocated 5 million square feet of land in Thane, Mumbai, for data center development. It is seeking strategic partners and aims to leverage its township locations and infrastructure to attract tenants requiring hyperscale and AI-ready facilities, thereby strengthening Mumbai's position as a data center hub.
DLF:
India's largest real estate developer plans to enter the market with a focus on greenfield hyperscale data center parks in the NCR and South India, likely through joint ventures. DLF intends to leverage its owned land and financing capacity to service the workloads of the BFSI, OTT, and government sectors.
Key Geographic Hubs Emerge
The data center boom is concentrated in specific regions, each offering distinct advantages:
Mumbai/Navi Mumbai:
As India's largest hub, it benefits from proximity to undersea cable landing stations, stable climate, and established energy infrastructure, making it the third-largest data center market in Asia.
Chennai:
Offers direct connectivity to Southeast Asia and the Middle East via subsea cables, along with competitive energy pricing.
Hyderabad & Pune:
These cities provide reliable grid power and a deep pool of IT talent, driving demand from software and technology companies.
National Capital Region (Delhi/Noida/Gurgaon):
A key market for campus-scale parks designed to support the BFSI, e-commerce, and government services sectors.
Tier-2/3 Cities:
Locations like Jaipur, Kochi, and Bhubaneswar are emerging as edge computing markets to deliver low-latency services to surrounding regions.
As digital consumption soars, India's real estate developers are fundamentally reshaping the nation's infrastructure landscape, blurring the lines between physical concrete and the virtual cloud. The future belongs not only to the builders of cities but also to those constructing the digital backbone that will connect a billion aspirations.
SOURCE tradebrains
