Ascendas targets ₹1,200-cr investment in data centre

The Singapore-based Ascendas India Trust, which develops IT and logistics parks in India, has planned to invest ₹1,200 crore to develop the first phase of its first data centre project in the country. The project is located at Airoli, an emerging data centre hub in Navi Mumbai. Ascendas Property Fund Trustee Pte Ltd, the trustee-manager of Ascendas India Trust (aiTrust), informed that it will develop and operate phase one of its first data centre campus on a prime site in India. The 6.6-acre greenfield site will be developed in phases into a fully-fitted data centre campus with a total potential built-up area of up to 5,75,000 square feet and 90 megawatts (MW) of power. The company will target customers such as global technology giants and cloud service providers, as well as large domestic enterprise clients. The acquisition of the site from third-party vendors is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2021. The data centre campus will comprise two buildings wherein phase one, the first building, which is scheduled to be ready by the second quarter of 2024, will have a built-up area of about 3,25,000 square feet. Once fully developed, the data centre campus will have an overall capacity to host approximately 8,500 racks. CEO of the Trustee-Manager of Ascendas India Trust, Sanjeev Dasgupta, informed that the company's entry into the data centre sector in India will diversify a-iTrust's portfolio into an attractive and highly scalable asset class.