NCR 2 at Sector 81, Noida, is listed by Nxtra by Airtel at 3.5 MW of IT power across 1,500 racks — 2.3 kW a rack, which is the lowest density of any facility recorded in this registry. The same site appears in a broker listing at 6 MW and described as under construction, phase three. Neither the operator’s card nor the broker sheet says when it was built or how full it is, and the two disagree about both its size and its stage.
1At a glance
22.3 kW a rack
Two and a third kilowatts a cabinet is not an unusual number in Indian colocation history. It is unusual to see it published next to a rack count in 2026.
| Reference point | kW a rack | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Nxtra NCR 2, this record | 2.3 | the lowest in the registry |
| Nxtra NCR 1 | 3.6 | the operator’s other Noida legacy hall |
| A broker sheet for this site | up to 3.0 | stated maximum per cabinet |
| Nxtra MUM 4, Mahape | 11.7 | the operator’s most modern hall |
| PDG MU2, Navi Mumbai | implied well above 20 | 6.4 kW per square metre across a five-storey building |
| TCS HyperVault, Hyderabad, claimed | above 170 | frontier AI design |
At 2.3 kW a cabinet, power is not the constraint on this building — space is. A tenant needing 100 kW of IT load needs about 44 cabinets here, where the same load fits in nine at Mahape density. That reverses the usual Indian data centre economics, where power and cooling dominate and floor space is the thing operators have plenty of.
It also has a specific consequence for anyone valuing the asset. A hall that is space-constrained rather than power-constrained is a candidate for redevelopment rather than refurbishment: the value is in the land, the connection and the address, not in the racks.
A 2.3 kW a cabinet hall cannot be sold to any customer who is buying for AI, and there is no refurbishment that fixes it without rebuilding the cooling and power distribution entirely.
Its value is land, connection and location — which is exactly how operators end up selling these buildings or redeveloping them.
3The stage conflict
The capacity disagreement is minor. The stage disagreement is not, because it decides whether this building is an asset or a construction site.
| Source | Capacity | Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Operator’s Noida page | 3.5 MW, 1,500 racks | not stated |
| Broker capacity sheet | 6.00 MW | under construction, phase three |
| Facility directory | 1,500 racks | listed, no stage |
| Gridvik record | 3.5 MW, 1,500 racks | stage unverified |
Both readings are possible. A facility can be operating at 3.5 MW with a 6 MW build-out in progress, in which case the broker sheet describes a future state and the operator card describes today. Or the broker sheet is stale and the building completed years ago.
Gridvik records the operator’s numbers and the unresolved stage. What it does not do is pick the more attractive reading. The distinction matters commercially: an operating asset is a refresh opportunity, and a building site is a fit-out opportunity, and nobody should be quoting firm prices against the wrong one.
4Timeline
- The operator’s Noida page lists NCR 2 at 3.5 MW of IT power and 1,500 racks, carrier neutral, with no commissioning status
- A broker capacity sheet for the same address offers 6 MW and describes phase three as under construction
- No commissioning date, occupancy figure or build-out confirmation has been published by the operator
5Limits and open questions
6Sources
Sources: Nxtra Noida data centre page, Nxtra by Airtel site, DataCenterMap Noida listings, Baxtel facility records, broker facility capacity sheet, Airtel FY26 annual report.