Noida authority subleases 10 acre plot in Sector 80 to Adani data centre

The Noida authority on Monday said that its board has agreed to sublease a 10 acre plot in Sector 80 to Noida Data Centre Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) formed by Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) and EdgeConneX under their joint venture, AdaniConnex.

Earlier, the authority had rejected Adani Group’s request to sub-lease it a plot, citing conditions of the lease deed executed to transfer the property title.

But the authority board met under the chairmanship of the Uttar Pradesh chief secretary Manoj Kumar Singh, who is also the chairman of the Noida authority, and approved the plan paving way for the establishment of a data centre in Noida Sector 80, said officials.

“The Noida authority board discussed the agenda related to this project and approved the request after deliberations in July 2024. A data centre project is supposed to be established in sector 80 as the authority had already allotted the land for the same,” said Lokesh M, chief executive officer, Noida authority.

After the Noida authority rejected the Adani Enterprises’s request for land on sublease, the company took the matter to the Uttar Pradesh government for approval.

The Uttar Pradesh industrial development department approved the plan on the grounds of provisions mentioned in the UP Data Centre Policy in 2022.

The UP industrial department said the provisions of the lease deed should take precedence over general ones (lease deed and scheme’s terms and conditions), leading to a reassessment of the sublease request. Subsequently, the authority revisited the issue and the board said that as per the Data Centre Policy (First Amendment), sublease permission for the data centre project can also be granted to Noida Data Centre Limited without levying any transfer fee.

The authority had executed a lease deed to Adani Group in 2021 at a cost of ₹70 crore for the purpose of developing a data centre.

Officials said that the AdaniConnex, a 50-50 joint venture between Adani Enterprises and global data centre operator EdgeConneX, was formed in February 2021 to set up data centres.

But the UP industrial development department sought an opinion from the IT and electronics department that cited the specific policy meant for data center projects in the state and overturned the Noida committee decision.

HT could not reach Adani Group for comment despite repeated attempts.