AWS to invest $12.7 billion into cloud infrastructure in India

Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing division of Amazon.com on Thursday announced its commitment to invest $12.7 billion (over Rs 1 lakh crore) into India's cloud infrastructure by 2030 in order to meet the growing customer demand for cloud services in the country.

This planned investment in data center infrastructure in India will support an estimated average of 1,31,700 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in Indian businesses each year, the company said in a statement.

These positions, including construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and other jobs, are part of the data center supply chain in India. This follows AWS’s investment of Rs 30,900 crores (US $3.7 billion) between 2016-2022, which will bring AWS’s total investment in India to Rs 1,36,500 crores (US $16.4 billion) by 2030, the statement said.

In an interview with Mint in November last year, the company’s chief executive officer Adam Selipsky said that India is a high growth market for AWS and it is “extremely committed to India for the long term”.

“We are aware that every country has its own regulations, laws and customs around data and around digital sovereignty. We respect those in each country, and we work with the government of each country where we operate in, as well as with our customers,” he said on the sidelines of AWS annual event Re:invent 2022 in Las Vegas.

Selipsky also said that AWS is the first global cloud service provider to be certified in India in 2017 by the Ministry of Electronics of IT and we continue to work closely with the government to ensure we abide by these rules.

AWS has two data center infrastructure regions in India – the AWS Asia Pacific (Mumbai) Region, launched in 2016, and the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region, launched in November 2022. The company further estimates that its overall contribution to the GDP of India between 2016 and 2022 was more than Rs 38,200 crores (US $4.6 billion).

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India vision is driving (the) expansion of cloud and data centres in India," Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in the statement.

The latest investment will catalyse India's digital economy. "MeitY is also working on a Cloud and Data Center Policy to catalyse innovation, sustainability, and growth of India Cloud," the minister said.

AWS’ current investment in India will have a “ripple effect in the local economy in areas, such as workforce development, training and skilling opportunities, community engagement, and sustainability initiatives”, the company said in a statement.

The company also said that hundreds of thousands of its customers in India run their workloads on AWS to drive cost savings, accelerate innovation and increase speed time to market.

This includes government entities such as the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, public healthcare institutions such as the Aarogyasri Health Care Trust, large Indian enterprises such as Ashok Leyland, Axis Bank, HDFC Life and Titan, small and medium businesses such as Havmor, Qube Cinema and Narayana Nethralaya, as well as startups like BankBazaar, HirePro, M2P and Yubi, among others.

AWS also helps several Indian businesses build digital solutions locally that can be scaled globally through the AWS Partner Network (APN) where Indian partners can use programs, expertise and resources to build, market and sell customer offerings. The APN in India includes organisations such as Minfy Technologies, Rapyder Cloud Solutions and Redington, the company said.

Puneet Chandok, president of commercial business, AWS India and South Asia (Amazon Web Services India Pvt Ltd.), said that they have trained more than four million people in India with cloud skills since 2017, and invested in six utility-scale renewable energy projects to meet the global 100 per cent renewable energy goal by 2025.

"Our planned investment will help create more beneficial ripple effects, supporting India on its path to becoming a global digital powerhouse," he added.

India holds strategic importance for Amazon, as the company has invested over $6.5 billion in the country's e-commerce market over the past decade. Notably, Google also operates two cloud regions in India – one in Delhi NCR and the other in Mumbai, while Microsoft has three including Pune, Mumbai, and Chennai and is planning to come up with one in Hyderabad. This intense competition underscores the significance of the Indian market for these tech giants, as they vie for dominance in the rapidly growing cloud computing industry. Amazon’s rival in the ecommerce space, Walmart, has also said earlier this year that it is investing over $2.5 billion into the country.