Nxtra by Airtel operates four data centres in Chennai — CHE 1 at Santhome, CHE 2 and CHE 3 at Siruseri, and Siruseri DC 3 — and its Chennai page states 46 MW of total IT power. The four facility cards on the same site add up to 49 MW. Three megawatts, about 6% of the portfolio, are unexplained and are not allocated anywhere in this record. That is a small error on its own and a useful one in aggregate: it is the same kind of gap that opens up across the entire Indian market when city totals, facility cards and earnings-call figures are quoted side by side.
1At a glance
246 against 49
The gap is small. The reason to publish it is that it is the same failure mode that makes every Indian market size estimate unreliable.
| Facility | Capacity | Status on the card |
|---|---|---|
| CHE 1 — Santhome | 2 MW | listed, commissioning status not stated |
| CHE 2 — Siruseri 1 | 4 MW | listed, commissioning status not stated |
| CHE 3 — Siruseri 2 | 16 MW | listed, commissioning status not stated |
| Siruseri DC 3 | 27 MW | listed, with rack count and PUE |
| Sum of cards | 49 MW | arithmetic |
| Published city total | 46 MW | the operator’s own headline |
| Difference | 3 MW | unexplained |
Two plausible explanations, neither published. Either one card includes capacity that is not yet live while the headline counts only what is operating, or one card has been double-counted against another. The difference is 6% of the city and about 1.2% of the national platform, so it does not change any market view. It does mean that no city-level figure for Chennai should be built by adding facility cards.
The larger point is that this is a well-run, listed, professionally reported operator. If its own Chennai page does not reconcile with itself, the figures quoted by developers, brokers and government agencies for the market as a whole should be assumed to carry a similar and probably larger margin. Gridvik records both numbers and adopts neither.
For Chennai capacity, use 46 MW as the operator’s headline and 49 MW as the sum of its parts. Do not average them. Do not allocate the difference to a building.
Anyone who quotes a precise Chennai market total to one decimal place is quoting an arithmetic that has not been published.
3Four capacity numbers for one company
The city gap is a rounding issue. The national numbers are not, and they change what the company is worth.
| Source and date | Figure | Wording |
|---|---|---|
| Airtel Q1 FY27 earnings call, August 2026 | 120–130 MW | capacity today, to be taken to 1 GW |
| Airtel FY26 annual report, July 2026 | about 250 MW | power capacity |
| Airtel press release, March 2026 | about 300 MW | capacity today, targeting 1 GW and 25% market share |
| Nxtra Chennai page, 2026 | 46 MW | total IT power in Chennai alone |
These are not compatible. A company cannot have 120–130 MW in August and 300 MW in March and 250 MW in a July annual report unless the figures measure different things — and the most likely explanation is exactly that: power capacity, IT load, and contracted or installed capacity are being used interchangeably.
The difference is not academic. At a valuation of about ₹27,404 crore, each megawatt of capacity is worth ₹91 crore if the platform is 300 MW, ₹110 crore if it is 250 MW and ₹211 crore if it is 130 MW. Anyone valuing Indian data centre platforms per megawatt needs to know which number they are dividing by, and in this case the company has given three.
There is a clean comparison available. Anant Raj reports audited data centre revenue of about ₹12.9 crore per megawatt per year on 28 MW of live capacity. Nxtra reported ₹2,430 crore of revenue in FY26, which is ₹9.7 crore per megawatt on 250 MW, ₹8.1 crore on 300 MW, or ₹18.7 crore on 130 MW. Two independent operators, one at ₹12.9 and one at ₹9.7 to ₹18.7 — that band is the real yield on Indian data centre capacity, and it is tighter than the capacity reporting.
4What 46 MW earns and what it is worth
Applying the same arithmetic to Chennai alone gives a defensible value for a city portfolio, which is useful because nobody publishes one.
| Measure | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Chennai IT capacity | 46 MW | operator headline |
| Chennai share of the platform | about 18% | 46 MW against 250 MW |
| Revenue at ₹9.7 crore a megawatt | about ₹446 crore a year | the group revenue-per-MW rate |
| Enterprise value at ₹110 crore a megawatt | about ₹5,040 crore | the group’s implied per-MW valuation |
| Share of the $3.1 billion valuation | about 18% | consistent with capacity share |
| What is not separable | which Chennai buildings are live, and how much of the 46 MW is contracted | not published |
Those are arithmetic on published ratios, not disclosed figures, and they are offered as such. What they do is put a number on a single city portfolio in a way that a buyer, a broker or a competing operator can argue with — which is more than the market currently offers.
The 32 times EBITDA valuation deserves a note. That is a rich multiple for an infrastructure business and it reflects how the market is pricing Indian data centre growth rather than current cash flow. It also means the platform is being valued on future capacity that does not exist yet — which is precisely why the capacity reporting inconsistency matters so much.
5Where Chennai sits in the platform
Chennai is not Nxtra’s biggest market and it is not where the growth capital is going. Both facts matter for anyone deciding where to sell.
| Item | Position |
|---|---|
| National footprint | 14 large core data centres and more than 120 edge facilities |
| Growth plan | about 1 GW, targeting around 25% market share, from a current share of about 12% |
| New AI campuses | Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata, plus the existing Pune facility. Mumbai is explicitly the focus of land acquisition |
| Capital | A $1 billion raise in March 2026: Alpha Wave $435 million, Carlyle $240 million, Anchorage $35 million, and about $290 million from Airtel. Airtel retains about 61%. Nxtra was valued at about $3.1 billion post-closing |
| Acquisitions | Reports in August 2026 describe proposed acquisitions of up to 85% stakes in two data centre companies, days after Airtel told analysts capacity would go from 120–130 MW to 1 GW |
| Financials | FY26 revenue ₹2,430 crore, up 17%, with EBITDA up 24%. FY25 revenue was ₹2,078.5 crore with net profit of ₹224.3 crore |
| Google partnership | Airtel is a partner in the gigawatt-scale Google campus at Visakhapatnam, backed by $15 billion. That is a separate project, not Nxtra Chennai capacity |
| Reading | Chennai is the mature, cable-connected colocation base. Mumbai is where the hyperscale and AI capital is being spent |
For a supplier, this is the useful mapping. Chennai’s 46 MW is largely built, at 5 kW a rack, serving enterprise and connectivity-led demand. It will buy replacement, upgrade and efficiency equipment rather than new-build packages. Mumbai is where the 1 GW ambition is being funded, and where land is actively being acquired.
That is also the honest limit of a Chennai page. The interesting procurement in this account is not happening here.
6Timeline
- Nxtra launches a 38 MW hyperscale data centre in Chennai, its third large facility in the city, described as 270,000 square feet, with a ₹5,000 crore national plan to reach 400 MW
- Nxtra reports revenue of ₹2,078.5 crore and net profit of ₹224.3 crore
- Airtel announces a $1 billion investment in Nxtra led by Alpha Wave Global with Carlyle and Anchorage Capital. Platform described as about 300 MW, targeting 1 GW and 25% market share
- Revenue rises 17% to ₹2,430 crore with EBITDA up 24%. The annual report describes about 250 MW of power capacity
- On the Q1 FY27 earnings call Airtel describes Nxtra as having 120–130 MW today, targeting 1 GW, with Mumbai as the focus and land acquisitions under way. Nxtra moves to acquire up to 85% of two data centre companies
- No Chennai-specific investment, expansion or commissioning announcement in the period. The 46 MW headline and the 49 MW card sum remain unreconciled
7Procurement
8Assumptions and method
| Figure | Basis | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| 46 MW Chennai | Nxtra Chennai page, total IT power across four facilities | High as a headline |
| 49 MW card sum | Gridvik addition of the four published facility cards: 2, 4, 16 and 27 MW | Arithmetic on published cards |
| 3 MW difference | The gap between the two, left unallocated | Unresolved |
| 27 MW, 5,400 racks, PUE below 1.5 | Siruseri DC 3 listing | High |
| about 5 kW a rack | Gridvik arithmetic: 27,000 kW ÷ 5,400 racks | Arithmetic |
| 120–130 MW, 250 MW, 300 MW | Earnings call, annual report and press release respectively. All retained | Conflicting, all published |
| ₹27,404 crore enterprise value | Gridvik arithmetic: $3.1 billion × 88.40 | Arithmetic |
| ₹91 to ₹211 crore per MW | That value divided by 300, 250 and 130 MW | Arithmetic, illustrating the ambiguity |
| ₹9.7 crore revenue per MW | Gridvik arithmetic: ₹2,430 crore ÷ 250 MW | Arithmetic |
| 32 times EBITDA | CLSA estimate, reported | Broker estimate |
| 18% Chennai share | Gridvik arithmetic: 46 MW ÷ 250 MW | Arithmetic |
9Limits and open questions
10Sources
Sources: Nxtra Chennai data centre page, Nxtra by Airtel site, Airtel press release of 30 March 2026, Airtel FY26 annual report, Airtel Q1 FY27 earnings call commentary, ETDatacenters, ETTelecom, Economic Times, CNBC, Forbes India, Medianama, The Tech Capital, TechCircle, DataCenterMap, DataCenterLocations.