'India either keeps pace or...': Zerodha's Nikhil Kamath invests ₹200 crore in CtrlS amid AI data centre push

At a time when India’s artificial intelligence and cloud ambitions are putting fresh pressure on the country’s digital backbone, data centre firm CtrlS has raised fresh capital from two entrepreneurs. Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has invested ₹200 crore in the homegrown hyperscaler, while Sreeram Reddy Vanga has put in ₹50 crore, the company said on Wednesday.

The company said the money will be used to expand CtrlS’s infrastructure and build capacity to meet growing enterprise and hyperscale demand across India, particularly as AI, cloud and digital workloads accelerate.

DON'T MISS | AI is no longer a bonus: What Indian smartphone buyers expect from their next phone

Fresh investment in CtrlS

In a statement, the company said, "Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath has invested ₹200 crore in CtrlS, one of India's largest hyperscale data centre operators, alongside a ₹50 crore investment by entrepreneur Sreeram Reddy Vanga."

Investors on India’s digital infrastructure

The Zerodha co-founder said every meaningful technology shift of the next decade, including AI, cloud and digital public infrastructure, runs on data centres. Kamath said, "India is at an inflexion point where the underlying infrastructure either keeps pace or becomes the bottleneck.

CtrlS has spent years building the kind of depth that does not get assembled overnight. That is what made this an easy decision." Vanga said India’s AI, cloud ambitions will require world-class digital infrastructure at scale.

CtrlS Datacenters Founder and CEO Sridhar Pinnapureddy said, "We are delighted to welcome Nikhil Kamath and Sreeram Reddy Vanga as investors in CtrlS. It gives us the ability to think bigger, move faster, and continue building datacenter platforms that will support India's next phase of growth."

DO CHECKOUT | 'When you set ₹5 crore goal, you...': Zerodha's Nithin Kamath recalls when he wanted to retire in Goa

CPP Investments’ ₹7,000-crore commitment

The latest investment follows a prior ₹7,000-crore commitment from CPP Investments to scale operations. Earlier in June, CtrlS secured an investment commitment of up to ₹7,000 crore from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board at a valuation of ₹44,914 crore to scale up its operations in India.

As per the plan, CPP Investments was to inject ₹4,000 crore to acquire an 8.2 per cent stake in CtrlS, and up to ₹3,000 crore to set up a joint venture to develop hyperscale data centre campuses across the country.

Earlier remarks on AI-ready capacity

When the joint venture was inked, Pinnapureddy had said, "India's AI moment is not on the horizon, it is already here. The demand signals from hyperscalers, cloud service providers, and enterprises are clear and unmistakable... Our partnership with CPP Investments... (is) not merely expanding capacity but also establishing the benchmark for AI-ready infrastructure in one of the world's most significant digital markets."

CtrlS footprint and expansion plans

Founded in 2007, CtrlS operates 19 data centres across nine Indian markets with a combined capacity of over 370 MW. The company has 4.4 GW of projects at various stages of execution and has announced plans to expand overseas into the Middle East and Southeast Asia, starting with Thailand.

With the fresh ₹250 crore from Kamath and Vanga coming after CPP Investments’ ₹7,000-crore commitment, CtrlS is expanding capacity in India as demand for AI-ready digital infrastructure rises.