<p id="speakable-summary" class="wp-block-paragraph">As global investors race to fund the infrastructure underpinning the artificial-intelligence boom, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s CPP Investments has committed up to ₹70 billion (about $741 million) to Indian data center operator CtrlS, betting on India’s growing role in the global buildout of cloud and AI infrastructure.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Under the partnership announced on Wednesday, CPP Investments will invest ₹40 billion (around $423 million) to acquire an 8.2% stake in CtrlS and commit up to ₹30 billion (about $317 million) to a joint venture to develop hyperscale data center campuses across India.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">CPP Investments will own 48% of the joint venture, while CtrlS will hold the remaining 52%, the companies said in a joint statement.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Founded in 2007, CtrlS <a href="https://www.ctrls.com/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">operates more than 15 data centers</a> across India. The Hyderabad-based company has been expanding its footprint to meet rising demand from cloud providers, enterprises, and AI workloads.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">India has become a major destination for data center and AI investments as global technology companies and investors ramp up spending to meet surging computing demand. Companies including <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/10/amazon-to-invest-additional-35b-in-india-by-2030-taking-total-planned-spending-to-75b/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Amazon</a>, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/14/google-to-invest-15b-in-indian-ai-infrastructure-hub/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Google</a>, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/12/09/microsoft-to-invest-17-5b-in-india-by-2029-as-ai-race-accelerates/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Microsoft</a>, <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/18/openai-taps-tata-for-100mw-ai-data-center-capacity-in-india-eyes-1gw/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">OpenAI</a>, and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/14/uber-to-open-2-campuses-in-india-to-support-product-development-operations/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Uber</a> have announced investments in the country in recent months, while operators are rapidly expanding capacity amid a broader global race to build AI infrastructure.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">“As one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets, India represents an important pillar of our global data center strategy,” said CPP Investments’ global head of real assets Max Biagosch in a statement.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">CPP Investments, Canada’s largest pension investor, has been investing in India since 2009 and had net assets of about $20 billion in the country as of March 31, making it one of the largest foreign institutional investors in the market.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The investment builds on CPP Investments’ broader push into digital infrastructure. The pension fund said it has invested in the data center sector since 2017 and has built a portfolio of assets and joint ventures across major markets worldwide.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The partnership will help CtrlS expand capacity and build infrastructure tailored for AI workloads, said CtrlS founder and chief executive Sridhar Pinnapureddy.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The CPP-CtrlS deal is the latest in a string of investments targeting India’s data center sector. Earlier this month, Blackstone-backed <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/05/airtrunk-commits-30b-to-build-5gw-of-ai-data-centers-in-india/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">AirTrunk</a> said it would invest $30 billion to build five gigawatts of data center capacity in India by 2030. <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/10/meta-signs-first-ai-data-center-deal-in-india-with-reliance/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Meta</a>, meanwhile, partnered with Reliance Industries last week on a 168-megawatt AI-enabled data center in the western state of Gujarat.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">New Delhi has sought to position India as a global hub for digital infrastructure through a range of policy measures, including <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/01/india-offers-zero-taxes-through-2047-to-lure-global-ai-workloads/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">tax exemptions for foreign cloud providers</a> on services sold overseas through 2047, provided those workloads are run from data centers located in the country.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Indian conglomerates have also accelerated expansion plans to capitalize on the opportunity. <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/17/adani-pledges-100b-for-ai-data-centers-as-india-seeks-bigger-role-in-global-ai/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adani Group</a> and <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/20/indias-tcs-gets-tpg-to-fund-half-of-2b-ai-data-center-project/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Tata Consultancy Services</a> are among the companies that have unveiled major data center projects aimed at supporting AI and cloud workloads. In 2023, CtrlS <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/12/ctrls-investment-data-centers-india/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced plans to invest $2 billion</a> over six years to expand its data center footprint across India.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">India’s growing role in AI infrastructure has not yet been matched by similar progress in developing frontier AI models. While the country has a handful of startups building indigenous AI models, including <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/15/sarvam-becomes-indias-newest-ai-unicorn-with-234-million-funding-round-led-by-hcltech/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Sarvam</a>, much of the underlying AI technology used by Indian companies <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/13/as-anthropic-suspends-access-to-new-models-india-debates-its-ai-future/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">continues to be supplied by U.S. firms</a>.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The rapid buildout of data centers is also expected to increase pressure on electricity and water resources, highlighting <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr417pwek7o" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener nofollow">some of the challenges</a> that could accompany India’s ambitions to become a major AI infrastructure hub.</p>
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