Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced it plans to invest INR 1,05,600 crores (US $12.7 billion) into cloud infrastructure in India by 2030 to meet growing customer demand for cloud services in India.
This investment is estimated to contribute INR 1,94,700 crores (US $23.3 billion) to India’s total gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.
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.
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 INR 30,900 crores (US $3.7 billion) between 2016-2022, which will bring AWS’s total investment in India to INR 1,36,500 crores (US $16.4 billion) by 2030.
AWS’s investment in India has a ripple effect in the local economy in areas, such as workforce development, training and skilling opportunities, community engagement, and sustainability initiatives. See more details here.
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 two AWS Regions are designed to provide Indian customers with multiple options to run workloads with even greater resilience and availability, securely store data in India, and serve end users with low latency.
AWS has invested more than INR 30,900 crores (US $3.7 billion) in the AWS Asia Pacific (Mumbai) Region between 2016 and 2022.
This includes both capital and operating expenditures associated with constructing, maintaining, and operating the data centers in that Region. AWS estimates that its overall contribution to the GDP of India between 2016 and 2022 was more than INR 38,200 crores (US $4.6 billion), and the investment supported approximately 39,500 FTE jobs annually in Indian businesses.
“PM Narendra Modi ji’s Digital India vision is driving expansion of cloud & data centers in India,” said Rajeev Chandrashekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, skill development and entrepreneurship in India.
“India Cloud and the underlying data center infrastructure are important elements of India’s digital infrastructure and ecosystem. I welcome the Amazon Web Services (AWS) investment of $12.7 billion to expand their data centers in India. It will certainly catalyze India’s digital economy. MeitY is also working on a Cloud & Data Center Policy to catalyze innovation, sustainability, and growth of India Cloud”, Rajeev added.
“Since 2016, AWS has invested billions of dollars into cloud infrastructure in India to support the tremendous growth we have witnessed in the use of cloud for digital transformation,” said Puneet Chandok, president of commercial business, AWS India and South Asia (Amazon Web Services India Pvt. Ltd.).
“AWS is committed to driving positive social and economic impact in India. In addition to building cloud infrastructure and helping local customers and partners digitally transform, we 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 our global 100% renewable energy goal by 2025″, Puneet Chandok said.
Puneet Chandok further said, “Our planned investment of INR 1,05,600 crores (US $12.7 billion) by 2030 will help create more beneficial ripple effects, supporting India on its path to becoming a global digital powerhouse.”
Upskilling India’s digital workforce
AWS’s infrastructure investment in India creates a positive ripple effect across the economy, including in digital skilling. Since 2017, AWS has trained more than four million people in India on cloud skills through programs such as AWS Skill Builder which offers digital cloud skills to anyone with an Internet connection, and AWS re/Start, a full-time, classroom-based skills development and training program that prepares individuals for careers in the cloud.
AWS re/Start has connected over 98% of all program graduates in India with employment opportunities across organisations including Accenture, Capgemini, CloudKinetics, Cloudreach, Cognizant, Hays Group, Mphasis, and Unilever.
In February 2023, AWS announced AWS re/Start Associate to help unemployed and underemployed IT professionals modernise their skills, and pivot to mid-level cloud careers, in collaboration with Generation India Foundation, a non-profit organisation.
Programs like AWS Educate, self-paced digital training, and AWS Academy, a cloud computing curriculum for higher education institutions, are also supporting training initiatives.
These programs are being used by the Ministry of Education, All India Council for Technical Education, NITI Aayog, and state government organisations such as Andhra Pradesh State Skill Development Corporation, Tamil Nadu Skill Development Corporation, and Telangana Academy for Skill and Knowledge.
Driving community development programs in India
AWS is committed to making a positive difference in the communities where it builds and operates data centers. As part of this, AWS Think Big Spaces provide a place beyond the classroom for students in India to explore and cultivate an interest in science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (STEAM) and related careers.
AWS has supported the setup of 11 Think Big Spaces in Mumbai and seven in Hyderabad, with more planned over the next year. These Think Big Spaces benefit over 16,000 school students every year.
