Go Big Or Go Home: FY27 To Be Year Of Consolidation For India Data Centres
The question is no longer whether consolidation is coming. It's who gets consolidated and who does the consolidating.
For India's data centre market, 2025 has been nothing short of a blockbuster year. We're talking about a sector that's gone from boardroom footnote to front-page headline, drawing in billions in capital, policy tailwinds, and a stampede of global and domestic players who finally get it: India is the next big data hub.
Let’s run through the roster. Google, with its $15 billion AI data centre in Visakhapatnam, didn’t just make headlines; it made a statement. Amazon and Microsoft doubled down on cloud infrastructure, committing billions more across Maharashtra, Telangana, and beyond. Reliance Industries announced what might become the world’s largest AI data centre cluster in Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. Tata Consultancy Services, in partnership with TPG, launched HyperVault, pledging $2 billion in AI-ready infrastructure. Meanwhile, Adani is building hyperscale campuses with Google and backing it with its own power and infrastructure muscle. Airtel’s Nxtra is expanding aggressively, and homegrown players like Yotta, CtrlS, and Sify are scaling up in strategic geographies.
Put simply, everyone wants a piece of this pie.
What used to be a fragmented, opportunistic sector is now a magnet for long-term bets and vertical integration. From chip fabs to subsea cables to AI workloads, the Indian DC game has matured, and with it, the stakes.
Which brings us to the next phase.
At Greyhound Research, we believe FY27, April 2026 to March 2027, won’t just be another chapter in the story. It will be the turning point. The year scale stops being an advantage and starts becoming a survival requirement.
Let’s not sugar-coat it: the data centre business is no longer a playground for specialists or regional players. This is a game of giants. And the likes of Tata, Adani, and Reliance aren’t just playing. They’re building the stadium, owning the broadcasting rights, and setting the rules.
Here’s What We Know
Tata has a semiconductor fab set to come online in December 2026. That’s not just a feather in their cap; it’s a long-term structural advantage. With domestic chip production finally entering the Tata ecosystem, in theory, they are expected to gain supply certainty, tighter control over component costs, and a degree of vertical integration no other data centre operator in India can match. Even if the first wave of chips isn’t built for AI acceleration, the strategic edge of owning part of the silicon pipeline is unmistakable.
Adani’s doing what Adani does best, building strong, vertically integrated businesses. Their joint venture with Google in Visakhapatnam is India’s first gigawatt-scale AI data centre. Backed by renewable power, subsea cable connectivity, and their own transmission infrastructure, they’re locking in the three things every data centre needs: power, bandwidth, and deep pockets.
Then there’s Reliance. With Jio’s massive internal consumption, a captive customer base, and the ambition to become India’s digital spine, they’re turning infrastructure into a strategic asset. Their data centres don’t need to chase clients; they already have them, in the form of hundreds of millions of subscribers and enterprise clients.
What do all three have in common? Scale. Integration. Patience.
Which brings us to the rest of the market.
Most smaller players are still stuck in the build-and-lease mindset, hoping hyperscalers will rent racks like they used to. But that playbook has expired. Hyperscalers are now building their own AI-ready hubs. Private equity is backing multi-billion-dollar joint ventures. And the cost of staying in the game, real estate, power, chips, and GPUs, is climbing fast.
The result? FY27 will be the year of reckoning.
We expect a wave of M&A activity as smaller players realise they can’t go it alone. Some will sell. Some will merge. Some will vanish. But few will survive without teaming up. And no, this won’t be a polite reshuffling of assets. This will be a consolidation wave driven by desperation, not synergy.
At Greyhound Research, we’re already hearing the backchannel chatter, mid-tier firms seeking buyers, startups hunting for anchor clients just to stay afloat, and private equity scouting for distressed assets. The squeeze is here. And FY27 is when it starts to show on balance sheets.
The danger is in misreading what’s happening. Some might interpret the boom in announcements as a sign that everyone’s doing well. But this is more of a land grab than a gold rush. The big players are digging moats. Everyone else is building bridges too late.
Even the global playbook tells the same story. In the US and China, once hyperscalers scaled up, regional players either got acquired or left the field. There’s no reason India will be any different. In fact, the capital flowing into Indian digital infrastructure suggests the stakes here are even higher.
The question is no longer whether consolidation is coming. It's who gets consolidated and who does the consolidating.
And don’t expect strategy to save the day unless it comes with capital. FY27 will favour those who can invest heavily, build fast, and absorb the rising costs of power, hardware, and talent. Everyone else will need a partner or a buyer.
The data centre game in India is no longer about uptime or PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) metrics. It’s about owning the full stack, from chip to grid to cloud. Tata, Adani, and Reliance understand this. Others are still catching up.
By the end of FY27, we predict the market will look very different. Fewer players. Bigger footprints. And a clear divide between those who scaled and those who stalled. Of course, FY27 is only a tipping point, and we at Greyhound Research expect this wave of consolidation to stretch well into FY28.
It’s not a comforting forecast. But it is a clear one. And in markets like this, clarity is the only edge that matters.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of NDTV Profit or its affiliates. Readers are advised to conduct their own research or consult a qualified professional before making any investment or business decisions. NDTV Profit does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented in this article.
