CPP Investments Commits C$1 Billion to CtrlS Data Centre Partnership in India
CPP Investments has entered a strategic partnership with CtrlS Datacenters Ltd., committing up to C$1 billion to expand digital infrastructure in India, according to the fund’s press release on Wednesday.
The deal includes a direct equity stake and a joint venture to develop hyperscale data centre campuses across the country.
Under the terms of the partnership, CPP will invest C$588 million to acquire an 8.2 per cent stake in CtrlS, which operates a data centre platform with contracted capacity, long-term customer relationships and a growing development pipeline.
Separately, the two parties will form a joint venture to build hyperscale data centre campuses. CPP Investments has committed up to $441 million to the venture and will hold 48 per cent equity ownership, with CtrlS holding the remaining 52 per cent.
“Demand for data centre infrastructure in India continues to accelerate, driven by hyperscale expansion, strong domestic cloud growth and emerging AI-led demand,” said Max Biagosch, senior managing director and global head of real assets at CPP Investments.
“This partnership with CtrlS positions us to scale high‑quality infrastructure and deliver long‑term value for CPP contributors and beneficiaries," he added.
The partnership is designed to meet rising demand from hyperscalers, cloud service providers, AI applications and India's expanding digital economy. CPP Investments has been investing in the data centre sector globally since its first direct investment in 2017 and has since built a portfolio of data centre assets and joint ventures across major international hubs, including Asia Pacific.
Biagosch said the partnership draws on CPP Investments' established footprint in India, where it has been active for over 10 years. He pointed to the fund's local platform as a foundation for continued investment alongside operators like CtrlS, emphasizing a patient, disciplined execution strategy.
"India's AI moment is not on the horizon, it is already here," said Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder and CEO of CtrlS. "The demand signals from hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises are clear and unmistakable. Over the years, CtrlS has focused on reliability, sustainability, and long-term growth. Our partnership with CPP Investments reinforces these values."
CPP Investments first invested in India in 2009 and opened its Mumbai office in 2015. It held more than $27 billion in net assets in the country as of March 31, 2026, making it one of the largest international institutional investors in India.
Jagmeet Singh of TechCrunch also reports Canadian pension giant joins race to fund India’s AI-fueled data center boom:
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.
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.
CPP Investments will own 48% of the joint venture, while CtrlS will hold the remaining 52%, the companies said in a joint statement.
Founded in 2007, CtrlS operates more than 15 data centers across India. The Hyderabad-based company has been expanding its footprint to meet rising demand from cloud providers, enterprises, and AI workloads.
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 Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber have announced investments in the country in recent months, while operators are rapidly expanding capacity amid a broader global race to build AI infrastructure.
“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.
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.
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.
The partnership will help CtrlS expand capacity and build infrastructure tailored for AI workloads, said CtrlS founder and chief executive Sridhar Pinnapureddy.
The CPP-CtrlS deal is the latest in a string of investments targeting India’s data center sector. Earlier this month, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk said it would invest $30 billion to build five gigawatts of data center capacity in India by 2030. Meta, meanwhile, partnered with Reliance Industries last week on a 168-megawatt AI-enabled data center in the western state of Gujarat.
New Delhi has sought to position India as a global hub for digital infrastructure through a range of policy measures, including tax exemptions for foreign cloud providers on services sold overseas through 2047, provided those workloads are run from data centers located in the country.
Indian conglomerates have also accelerated expansion plans to capitalize on the opportunity. Adani Group and Tata Consultancy Services are among the companies that have unveiled major data center projects aimed at supporting AI and cloud workloads. In 2023, CtrlS announced plans to invest $2 billion over six years to expand its data center footprint across India.
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 Sarvam, much of the underlying AI technology used by Indian companies continues to be supplied by U.S. firms.
The rapid buildout of data centers is also expected to increase pressure on electricity and water resources, highlighting some of the challenges that could accompany India’s ambitions to become a major AI infrastructure hub.
Earlier today, CPP Investments announced it is committing C$1 billion to CtrlS data centre partnership in India:
MUMBAI, India (June 17, 2026) – Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) today announced a strategic partnership with CtrlS Datacenters Ltd., a leading data centre operator in India, committing up to INR 70 billion (C$1 billion) to scale its digital infrastructure footprint in one of the world’s fastest‑growing data economies.
As part of the partnership, CPP Investments will invest INR 40 billion (C$588 million) to acquire an 8.2% stake in CtrlS, which operates a data centre platform with significant contracted capacity, long-term customer relationships and a growing development pipeline. In addition, CPP Investments and CtrlS will form a joint venture to develop hyperscale data centre campuses across India. CPP Investments has committed up to INR 30 billion (C$441 million) to the joint venture and will hold 48% equity ownership, with CtrlS owning the remaining 52%.
The partnership aims to speed up the development of next-generation data centre infrastructure to meet rising demand from hyperscalers, cloud services, AI applications, and India’s rapidly expanding digital economy.
“As one of the world’s fastest growing digital markets, India represents an important pillar of our global data centre strategy,” said Max Biagosch, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Real Assets at CPP Investments. “Demand for data centre infrastructure in India continues to accelerate, driven by hyperscale expansion, strong domestic cloud growth and emerging AI-led demand. This partnership with CtrlS positions us to scale high‑quality infrastructure and deliver long‑term value for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”
CPP Investments has been an active investor in the data centre sector globally since making its first direct investment in 2017. Since then, it has built a diversified portfolio of data centre assets and joint ventures across major international hubs, including Asia Pacific.
Biagosch added: “This investment builds on more than a decade of investing in India and the strength of our local platform. With an established presence on the ground, we continue to focus on investing alongside high-quality partners such as CtrlS and executing with discipline over the long term.” CPP Investments made its first investment in India in 2009 and opened its Mumbai office in 2015. With over INR 1,850 billion (C$27 billion) of net assets at March 31, 2026, CPP Investments is one of the largest international institutional investors in India.
Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder & CEO, CtrlS, said, “India’s AI moment is not on the horizon, it is already here. The demand signals from hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises are clear and unmistakable. Over the years, CtrlS has focused on reliability, sustainability, and long-term growth. Our partnership with CPP Investments reinforces these values. Together, we are not merely expanding capacity but also establishing the benchmark for AI-ready infrastructure in one of the world’s most significant digital markets.”
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments™) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Canada Pension Plan Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, we make investments around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At March 31, 2026, the Fund totaled C$793.3 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments.
This is yet another sizable investment in data centres by CPP Investments, this time in India where large, well-known hyperscalers have been expanding their operations at a rapid pace.
Since its initial investment in data centres back in 2017, CPP Investments has followed Blackstone's lead in this space, and even invested alongside it in data centers.
I've said this before, even though CPP Investments' CEO John Graham has said they're underweight US technology shares in public markets, they're definitely playing the AI theme in private markets, and data centres is by far their biggest global platform (they're also playing it in the energy side).
This is a huge deal in India, taking an 8.2% stake in CtrlS Datacenters Ltd., a leading data centre operator in India, and doing a joint venture with the company.
Max Biagosch, Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Real Assets at CPP Investments summed it up well in the press release:
“As one of the world’s fastest growing digital markets, India represents an important pillar of our global data centre strategy. Demand for data centre infrastructure in India continues to accelerate, driven by hyperscale expansion, strong domestic cloud growth and emerging AI-led demand. This partnership with CtrlS positions us to scale high‑quality infrastructure and deliver long‑term value for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”
I also like what Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder & CEO, CtrlS, said:
“India’s AI moment is not on the horizon, it is already here. The demand signals from hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises are clear and unmistakable. Over the years, CtrlS has focused on reliability, sustainability, and long-term growth. Our partnership with CPP Investments reinforces these values. Together, we are not merely expanding capacity but also establishing the benchmark for AI-ready infrastructure in one of the world’s most significant digital markets.”
Again, these are huge deals that will pay off for the Fund over the long run.
Below, India’s data centre growth is no longer just about rising demand. It’s about who can scale faster, build smarter, and stay future-ready in an increasingly competitive landscape.
In this exclusive conversation, Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder & CEO, CtrlS, joins James Raddings from DatacenterDynamics to discuss what’s fueling India’s datacenter boom and what lies ahead.
The discussion explores the global datacenter landscape and how India compares in terms of regulation, infrastructure readiness, and investment momentum. It also delves into the shift from traditional facilities to AI factories, the pace of delivering large-scale campuses, and why power strategy is emerging as a critical differentiator.
From innovation and sustainability to efficiency, talent, supply chain pressures, Tier 2 expansion, and edge opportunities, the session unpacks the real opportunities and challenges shaping the future of digital infrastructure.
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