India’s RMZ Corp, one of one of Asia's largest privately-owned real estate owners, investors and developers, is reported to be expanding into three new asset classes, including data centres.
The Data Centre Dynamics website says that the company is expecting to develop 32.5 million square metres of commercial space for industrial and warehousing logistics, hospitality services and data centres in India and abroad by 2032.
Data centre developments are apparently planned for Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune and the National Capital Region in Delhi, although no specific details have yet been made public.
The company believes the process could take around eight years to complete, from acquiring land to partnering with other companies to develop the spaces.
To fund these developments, RMZ has raised US$2 billion by selling some of its assets to Brookfield Asset Management Company, one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, which has approximately US$800 billion in assets under management.
With both growth and investment in the Indian data centre market on the rise at the moment, energy efficiency and sustainability could be important factors in selling the idea of new builds. It may therefore be relevant that RMZ specializes in eco-friendly buildings and office spaces. It will be interesting to see whether and how this translates to potentially power-hungry data centres and their effects on the environment.
