TCG's Cortex DC targets 2GW of data center capacity in India

Cortex DC, the AI subsidiary of Indian conglomerate The Chatterjee Group (TCG), plans to develop 2GW of data center capacity across India. The company announced its move into the data center market this month.

The target: 2 gigawatts (a measure of electrical capacity equal to 2,000 megawatts) of buildout serving demand from AI workloads and cloud adoption. That volume would place Cortex DC among India's larger infrastructure players, though the company hasn't disclosed specific sites or a completion timeline for the full program.

What does this change for India's compute market?

It adds a well-capitalized domestic entrant to a market racing to add capacity for high-performance computing. TCG brings its own land bank to the table. Local press reports the roll-out will rely on the group's existing land parcels, which could shorten development timelines that often stall on site acquisition.

The company plans to source 51 percent of its energy from green sources. Cortex DC hasn't detailed how it will hit that figure — whether through power purchase agreements, on-site generation, or renewable energy certificates.

The first facility has a concrete clock on it: TCG is targeting operational readiness within 18 months of breaking ground. No groundbreaking date has been announced.

Who is behind it?

TCG, founded in 1989, is a New York-headquartered private equity and industrial holding group with more than $4 billion in deployed capital. Its portfolio spans petrochemicals, life sciences, technology, financial services, and real estate across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Cortex DC CEO Rahul Sharma framed the venture as a bid for global customers, not just domestic ones. "Cortex DC is being built in India for the globe, set up to serve both local and global customers," Sharma said. "It aims to deliver the scale, resilience, power availability, and connectivity that international enterprises, cloud service providers, and AI innovators demand."

Sherman [sic — Sharma] added: "Our ambition is to provide globally competitive, AI-ready infrastructure that establishes India as a premier destination for the world's most demanding compute workloads. We see Cortex DC as a catalyst of India's emergence as a global AI and digital infrastructure hub."

TCG founder and chairman Dr. Purnendu Chatterjee positioned the platform as an extension of the group's three-decade investment strategy. "For three decades, TCG has built knowledge-based businesses through strategic long-term investments, with an overriding focus on value creation," Chatterjee said. "Cortex DC extends that philosophy to the digital backbone of the Intelligence Age."

He continued: "We are building it with speed, at scale, and with a commitment to responsible energy, in the belief that India's economic development will be shaped by the infrastructure it builds today."

What's still unknown?

Plenty. Cortex DC has not shared full details of its roll-out. Missing from the announcement:

• Site locations and land parcel specifics
• Per-facility capacity and phased buildout schedule
• Financing structure and total capital commitment
• Mechanism for reaching the 51 percent green energy target
• Anchor customers or cloud provider partnerships

The 18-month operational target for the first site, if met from a 2025 groundbreaking, would put initial capacity online by late 2026 or 2027.