Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has announced a 6.5 billion dollar capital expenditure plan to strengthen its AI-driven data centre infrastructure. The investment aims to enhance capability, support digital expansion, and reduce reliance on external technology ecosystems. Indian companies are increasingly using private capital to expand capacity and meet the fast-growing demand for digital services.
In a recent interview, TCS CEO K Krithivasan said the company aims to become the world’s largest AI-led services organisation. “This initiative also has a strong India angle, alongside global opportunities with our existing clients. In terms of funding, it will be a mix of equity and debt. On the equity side, we’ve partnered with a financial investor, giving us the flexibility and control to shape our growth path and decide who we work with—resulting in a stronger and more strategic business model.”
Industry experts believe the move reflects a broader shift in how digital infrastructure is being financed. Prateek Jhawar, Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure and Real Assets Investment Banking at a leading investment firm, said institutions such as Apollo, Blackstone, and CPP Investments are developing long-term debt structures supported by contracted hyperscaler cash flows.
“Recent deals (Digital Realty’s 7 billion dollar joint venture with Blackstone, Aligned’s 1.7 billion dollar private credit raise, and EdgeCore’s 1.9 billion dollar financing) highlight how bespoke capital stacks are reshaping the ecosystem. The demand tailwinds are so strong that data centres are now being underwritten more like core infrastructure assets, not just technology real estate,” he said.
According to Jhawar, India’s data centre capacity is likely to exceed 2,000 megawatts in the next two years, requiring about 3.5 billion dollars in new investment. Operators such as AdaniConneX, Yotta Data, and CapitaLand have already raised nearly 2 billion dollars to fund large-scale campuses in Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad. He added, “What’s changing is not just the volume of capital, but the nature of it. Flexible private credit structures and long-term infrastructure funds are now competing to anchor Indian digital infrastructure. For investors, this convergence of AI-led demand, predictable cash flows, and hard-asset characteristics is transforming data centres into the defining infrastructure story of the next decade.”
A Barclays report suggested that India could attract around 19 billion dollars in data centre investments by 2030, up from 12 billion dollars last year. Sanjeev Dasgupta, CEO of CapitaLand Investment India, said the growing demand is driven mainly by hyperscalers and large enterprise customers, including banks, financial institutions, and stock exchanges. “Both are growing fast, but hyperscalers are expanding faster due to AI plans in India and other markets,” he said.
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