Colt DCS and RMZ Begin Construction on Third Mumbai Data Center Following Hyperscaler Lease

Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) and Indian real estate firm RMZ have commenced construction on their third data center facility at the Navi Mumbai campus in India, advancing a joint venture that underscores the rapid expansion of hyperscale infrastructure across South Asia.

The new facility, designated Mumbai 3, will deliver 64MW of IT capacity upon completion and has been underpinned by a lease agreement with a hyperscale customer, the companies announced this week. The building will employ a hybrid cooling architecture that combines traditional air cooling with direct liquid-to-chip cooling, alongside a closed-loop system designed to reduce water consumption — a critical consideration as data center operators face growing scrutiny over resource usage in water-stressed regions.

Upon completion, Mumbai 3 will join the campus's first two buildings, bringing the site's total operational capacity to 86MW. At full build-out, the Navi Mumbai campus could reach 148MW, positioning it as one of the largest data center developments in India.

The construction milestone builds on a $1.7 billion joint venture announced by Colt and RMZ in 2024, through which both organizations have committed to developing 250MW of data center capacity across Mumbai and Chennai. The partners are also reportedly targeting a project in Vizag, signaling ambitions to extend their footprint along India's eastern coast.

Colt, founded in 1992 and originally known as City Of London Telecom, was acquired by Fidelity Investments in August 2015. The company's data center portfolio now includes 15 operational facilities with an additional 12 sites under development across nine cities in the UK, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. Colt DCS says it has nearly 800MW of capacity under development globally.

RMZ first announced plans to enter the data center sector in 2023, outlining potential developments across Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and the National Capital Region in Delhi. The company's partnership with Colt marks a significant pivot into digital infrastructure for the Indian real estate developer, which has historically focused on commercial and office properties.

The Mumbai 3 groundbreaking reflects broader momentum in India's data center market, where demand from hyperscalers, cloud providers, and AI workloads is driving a wave of new capacity commitments. As global operators race to establish footholds in the region, joint ventures between international data center specialists and domestic real estate firms are becoming an increasingly common model for navigating land acquisition, regulatory approvals, and local market dynamics.