Amazon Web Services (AWS) is poised to significantly expand its presence in India with a planned investment of approximately $8.2 billion in Maharashtra over the next four to five years. The announcement, made by IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, highlights the strategic importance of the investment and its potential impact on the Indian economy.
According to Minister Vaishnaw, the investment is expected to generate considerable employment opportunities. “Along with the investment, there will be significant growth in employment,” the IT minister stated. The rollout of this investment is projected to occur between 2029 and 2030.
In addition to the financial commitment, Vaishnaw indicated that AWS intends to launch its own graphics processing units (GPUs) and cloud management services within the region, as reported by Reuters.
Currently, Amazon operates two data centers in India. The first, launched in Mumbai in 2016, and a second, which began operations in Hyderabad in 2022. This latest investment aligns with India’s broader strategy to boost local cloud storage capabilities.
This expansion follows a recent IDC report predicting substantial growth in India’s cloud storage market. The market, valued at $8.3 billion in 2023, is anticipated to reach $24.2 billion by 2028.
Last year, Amazon committed an additional $2 billion to strengthen its e-commerce operations in India. At the Smbhav event in December 2024, Samir Kumar, Amazon India’s country manager, announced plans to digitize 10 million small businesses within four years and integrate over 12 million small businesses into the digital economy. Kumar added that Amazon has facilitated nearly $13 billion in cumulative exports and created approximately 1.4 million direct and indirect jobs in India.
Furthermore, Amazon is committed to enabling over $80 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports from India by 2030. This represents a substantial increase from Amazon’s previous goal of enabling $20 billion in e-commerce exports by 2025.
This move by AWS reflects a broader trend of increasing investment in India’s AI and cloud sectors. Earlier this year, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella announced a $3 billion investment over the next two years to strengthen India’s AI and cloud infrastructure and skilling initiatives. Nadella explained that the investment would encompass new data centers to expand Microsoft’s AI capabilities. Moreover, as part of its ADVANTA(I)GE India program, the company aims to train 10 million Indians in AI skills by 2030.
