Amazon Web Services to invest USD 12.7 billion in cloud infrastructure

NEW DELHI: Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Thursday announced it plans to invest USD 12.7 billion (Rs 1,05,600 crore) in cloud infrastructure in India by 2030 to meet growing customer demand for cloud services in India. This investment is estimated to contribute USD 23.3 billion (Rs 1,94,700 crore) to India's total gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030, according to a statement from Amazon. This planned investment in data centre 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 centre supply chain in India. This follows AWS's investment of USD 3.7 billion (Rs 30,900 crore) between 2016 and 2022, bringing AWS's total investment in India to USD 16.4 billion (Rs 1,36,500 crore) by 2030.

According to the statement, 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. "PM Narendra Modi ji's Digital India vision is driving the expansion of cloud and data centres in India," said Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and Information technology, skill development and entrepreneurship in India, according to the statement.

The minister said, "India Cloud and the underlying data centre infrastructure are important elements of India's digital infrastructure and ecosystem. I welcome the Amazon Web Services (AWS) investment of USD 12.7 billion to expand their data centres in India. It will certainly 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." AWS's infrastructure investment in India creates a positive ripple effect across the economy, including in digital skilling, according to the Amazon statement.

Since 2017, Amazon said AWS has trained more than four million people in India on cloud skills through programmes 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 per cent of all programme graduates in India with employment opportunities across organisations, Amazon said.

Puneet Chandok, president of commercial business, AWS India and South Asia (Amazon Web Services India, said, "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 the cloud for digital transformation." He said AWS was 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 per cent renewable energy goal by 2025," he added.