NTT and the Prestige Group have joined forces to develop a cutting-edge 100 MW data centre in Bangalore, marking Prestige's entry into the data centre industry in India. The project will encompass a million square feet of gross leasable area (GLA) across three phases. The total value of the transaction, including land and infrastructure development costs, amounts to Rs 7 billion.The agreement entails the development of approximately 1 million square feet, with the first building expected to be completed within 12 months. Prestige will construct three data centre buildings spanning 350,000 square feet for NTT. Juggy Marwaha, CEO of Prestige Office Venture, expressed optimism about the data center business, emphasising the need for power and high-quality infrastructure, which attracts major operators to established players like Prestige.While Marwaha refrained from commenting on the NTT deal, the company's enthusiasm for the data center industry was evident. NTT and CBRE, the brokerage firm facilitating the transaction, were unavailable for comment. Marwaha highlighted the consolidation occurring within the commercial real estate sector, underlining the seriousness of the business.India has witnessed a surge in data centre establishments due to technological advancements and increasing operational demands. Currently, NTT operates 11 data centers in the country, with six more scheduled to launch by June in Airoli, Mahape, Bengaluru, and Chennai. NTT commands a 22% market share for data centers in India.With its status as the third-largest data centre provider globally, NTT has invested approximately $4.5 billion in India since 2020. This includes a recent $2.5-billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with Maharashtra at Davos, focusing on the construction of data centres, submarine cables, and renewable energy plants in the state over the next five years.The grant of infrastructure status in the 2022-23 budget is expected to boost data centres in Karnataka. Moreover, the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission aims to create one million jobs by 2025 and achieve $150 billion in IT exports, thereby fuelling the demand for digitalization and data storage, particularly in Bangalore.The demand for data centres in India is further propelled by enhanced technology infrastructure and the increasing adoption of transformative technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. Over the past five years, the data centre sector in India has received investments totalling $14 billion, and this figure is projected to exceed $20 billion by 2025, according to commercial real estate consultancy CBRE.