RIL joins forces with Brookfield Infrastructure and Digital Realty for their data center business in India.

Reliance Industries has joined forces with Brookfield Infrastructure and Digital Realty to invest in their Indian platform focused on developing data centers across the country.

This new alliance means that Reliance Industries will hold a 33.33% stake, becoming an equal partner in the existing joint venture called BAM Digital Realty, which will now be rebranded as ‘Digital Connexion: A Brookfield, Jio, and Digital Realty Company,’ as stated in a regulatory filing.

Kiran Thomas, CEO of Jio Platforms, expressed that this partnership will enable them to provide cutting-edge, plug-and-play solutions delivered from the cloud, serving enterprise and small to medium-sized business clients, leading their digital transformation, and enhancing their competitiveness and efficiency.

The joint venture aims to cater to both global and local enterprises, small and medium businesses, as well as startups in India, addressing their cloud and colocation requirements as they transition their compute resources to the cloud and off-premise.

Arpit Agrawal, MD and Head of Infrastructure, India & Middle East, Brookfield, expressed satisfaction in expanding their partnership with Reliance and incorporating their expertise in the Indian telecom, tech, and data landscape to support the ongoing digitalization in various aspects of Indian life.

Currently, the platform is actively developing data centers in crucial locations such as Mumbai and Chennai. The first 20 MW greenfield data center, situated on a 100 MW campus in Chennai, is projected to be completed by the end of 2023. Additionally, a 40 MW data center will be constructed on a recently acquired 2.15-acre land plot in Mumbai.

These strategically located data centers will be interconnected with vital terrestrial and undersea cable infrastructure, becoming pivotal hubs for global connectivity for Indian companies and providing gateways into India for multinational enterprises.

Serene Nah, MD & Head of Asia Pacific, Digital Realty, highlighted that India’s data center industry remains largely untapped, driven by the rapid adoption of digital business models, a substantial population, and a government that recognizes technology’s role in future economic development.

The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is anticipated to be finalized within approximately three months. The data centers developed under this platform will benefit from Digital Realty’s energy-efficient data center platform design and operational practices, leveraging Brookfield’s extensive knowledge of the Indian infrastructure market, as well as Jio’s robust digital and connectivity ecosystem, and strong enterprise relationships with an existing client base comprising 80% of large private enterprises in India.

With India already among the largest consumers of mobile data globally, the data center capacity is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years, particularly with increased access to various digital services like OTT platforms, gaming, and the ongoing 5G rollout.