Non-IT companies are actively capitalizing on India's technology wave through strategic partnerships and investments in data centre infrastructure. According to reports, Uber entered into a partnership with the Adani Group to establish a data centre in Ahmedabad, with CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announcing the collaboration on May 14 during his five-day visit to India. The facility's capacity has not been disclosed but is expected to become operational by the end of 2026. This development follows Macrotech Developers Ltd (Lodha) entering the data centre business through a partnership with the Maharashtra government in September, committing approximately ₹1.3 lakh crore for a 2.5-gigawatt data centre park.
The real estate sector is positioning itself as a key player in India's data centre ecosystem through substantial infrastructure commitments. As reported, Lodha has sold land to Amazon Web Services and ST Telemedia Global Data Centres to set up data centres and plans to fund the project largely through land monetization, targeting over ₹12,000 crore in land sales from FY27. The developer will build centres with essential infrastructure such as power supply and cooling systems of about 1 GW capacity for data centres and lease the space to hyperscalers. Hiranandani Group's subsidiary Yotta Data Services has been operating in the data centre space since 2019, managing five data centres across India with plans to bring about 500 MW of AI-focused data centre capacity online in 2026.
Beyond infrastructure investments, companies are establishing Global Capability Centre (GCC) practices to serve clients in the technology sector. According to reports, The Embassy Group completed one year of its GCC unit, Embark, when it inaugurated a 1,000-seater GCC for a US banking firm, Standard, in Bengaluru last month. The GCC practice, which employs about 70 people, provides location, tax-related and legal advisory services to clients and has set up 10 GCCs for clients. Staffing services provider Quess Corp, managing 460,000 people across companies, established its GCC practice called Origint in June last year, providing workspace solutions, technology, compliance management and talent to clients setting up GCCs in India.
The rapid expansion of data centres globally presents significant construction and legal challenges for developers. As reported by construction law experts, just under 100 gigawatts of data centre capacity is currently in the queue to connect to the electricity grid in the UK alone, creating pressure for rapid project delivery. Key challenges include grid constraints and energy price impacts, but also interface coordination between multiple contractors and supply chain constraints with long lead times for specialized equipment. Developers must carefully choose between EPC contracts (offering single point responsibility but at premium pricing) and construction management routes (providing flexibility but requiring greater administrative complexity). The imbalance between supply and demand has led to significant increases in hardware costs, placing hyperscalers at an advantage over smaller developers who may struggle with upfront capital requirements.
