Yotta Data Services, a prominent Indian data center and AI infrastructure company, is now prioritizing a domestic initial public offering (IPO), reversing its earlier strategy to list in the U.S. via NASDAQ. This decision comes amidst increasing investor enthusiasm in India for digital infrastructure and AI-related assets.
Sunil Gupta, the CEO of Yotta, stated that the company retains the option to raise capital overseas at a later stage but will focus on the Indian markets first. "Our current plan is to raise capital in India first. The structure allows us to keep the US option open; it's a question of sequencing," Gupta told Mint. He indicated that if all progresses smoothly, the IPO could occur in the next financial year.
Yotta had already secured all necessary regulatory approvals for a NASDAQ listing by late 2025 through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), Cartica Acquisition Corp. However, the company opted to prioritize the Indian markets due to its "sovereign positioning, India-centric operations and strong response from domestic investors during pre-IPO fundraising discussions". The deal with Cartica Acquisition Corp. valued Nidar Infrastructure at approximately $2.75 billion pre-transaction.
This strategic shift highlights the increasing confidence in the Indian capital markets, especially for companies with a strong focus on the domestic AI ecosystem. Gupta noted that "Indian investors are already factoring India risk when they invest. For overseas investors, India is still an external risk". Market participants have observed a growing appetite among Indian investors for AI-adjacent public listings, particularly in sectors like AI software, data centers, cloud services, and application-layer technologies.
Yotta has been actively expanding its footprint in India. At its Panvel campus near Navi Mumbai, the company has increased its land bank from 20 acres to approximately 70 acres, which will enable the development of up to 22 data center buildings. Once fully constructed, the Panvel campus is projected to have a power capacity of up to 2 GW, supported by robust land, fiber, and grid connectivity. However, Gupta clarified that construction would be driven by customer contracts and demand visibility, stating, "We won't build blindly. The pace depends entirely on the deals we win".
Yotta is also dedicated to bringing high-end cloud and data center services to everyone in India, with a strong focus on AI. The company is setting up high-density AI infrastructure to meet the country's exploding AI and cloud ambitions and aims to make these services affordable, supporting India's mission to become a global AI hub. Yotta has built Shakti Cloud, India's first AI infrastructure platform to offer high-end computing services.
Yotta's focus on AI is further strengthened by its empanelment in the IndiaAI Mission, a Government of India initiative to establish the country as a leader in AI. Yotta is playing a pivotal role in advancing India's AI ecosystem by supporting the India AI Innovation Center's initiative to develop indigenous foundational models.
The Indian data center and AI infrastructure market is projected to more than double from $11.8 billion in 2026 to $25.1 billion by 2031, according to Gupta. Yotta's decision to prioritize a domestic IPO signals its confidence in the growth potential of the Indian market and its commitment to contributing to India's AI revolution. The company's focus includes democratizing AI by making it accessible via GPU leasing, AI Lab services, and end-to-end AI solutions, enabling startups, students, and enterprises to build and deploy AI solutions tailored to India's unique needs.
Sunil Gupta projects that India’s roadmap must focus on sovereign compute at scale, affordable power, and creating deep talent and research ecosystems to emerge as a global AI hub.
