SynopsisCanada Pension Plan Investment Board is injecting up to C$1 billion into India's burgeoning data centre sector through a strategic partnership with CtrlS Datacenters. This significant investment will fuel the expansion of digital infrastructure, including hyperscale data centre campuses, to meet the escalating demand driven by AI and cloud services.Hari Krishna, MD, Head of Real Estate India and Mumbai Office Head, CPP Investments.MUMBAI: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), one of the world's largest pension investors, has entered into a strategic partnership with CtrlS Datacenters to invest up to C$1 billion or Rs 7,000 crore to expand digital infrastructure in India, underscoring growing investor appetite for the country's rapidly expanding data centre sector.Under the transaction, CPP Investments will invest C$588 million or Rs 4,000 crore to acquire an 8.2% stake in CtrlS, an Indian data centre operator with operational assets, contracted capacity and a growing development pipeline.The two partners will also establish a joint venture to develop hyperscale data centre campuses across India. CPP Investments has committed up to C$441 million or Rs 3,000 crore to the venture and will hold 48% equity ownership, while CtrlS will own the remaining 52%.“As one of the world’s fastest growing digital markets, India represents an important pillar of our global data centre strategy,” said Max Biagosch, Senior MD and Global Head of Real Assets at CPP Investments.The partnership aims to accelerate the development of next-generation data centre infrastructure to cater to growing requirements from hyperscalers, cloud service providers and AI-driven applications.“India has firmly cemented its position as a tier-1 data centre market globally, and from an investment standpoint, the development yield per MW profile here is among the highest we see globally. This partnership combines CPP Investments' real estate and infrastructure expertise to capture value across both the operating platform and the development pipeline alongside an established partner like CtrlS,” Hari Krishna, MD, Head of Real Estate India and Mumbai Office Head, CPP Investments, told ET.Of the total commitment, Rs 4,000 crore is already invested and the balance Rs 3,000 crore is expected to be deployed over the next 18 months. This is the initial investment, CPP Investments may consider investing more at the company and joint venture level later on, he added.The joint venture is expected to invest across established hubs including Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad along with Bengaluru, Pune and Delhi for hyperscalers. For edge data centres that envisage lower capital investments, it will consider the next 20 Indian cities.The investment marks the latest addition to CPP Investments’ global data centre portfolio. The Canadian pension fund has been investing directly in the sector since 2017 and has since built a diversified portfolio of data centre assets and joint ventures across major international hubs, including Asia Pacific.“India's AI moment is not on the horizon, it is already here. The demand signals from hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises are clear and unmistakable… Together, we are not merely expanding capacity but also establishing the benchmark for AI-ready infrastructure in one of the world's most significant digital markets,” said Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder & CEO, CtrlS.The India investment also builds on CPP Investments’ long-standing presence in the country. The fund made its first investment in India in 2009 and opened its Mumbai office in 2015. As of March end, CPP Investments had over C$27 billion or Rs 185,000 crore of net assets in India, making it one of the country’s largest international institutional investors.The latest investment comes at a time when demand for data centre infrastructure is accelerating amid rising adoption of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services, prompting global institutional investors to increase exposure to India’s rapidly growing digital economy.Read More News on...moreless