Microsoft has announced a $17.5 billion investment in India over a four-year period from calendar year 2026 to 2029, marking the company’s largest commitment in Asia to date. The investment is aimed at accelerating India’s cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, strengthening infrastructure, skilling initiatives and long-term operations across the country.
The commitment builds on Microsoft’s previously announced $3 billion investment, which the company is on track to deploy by the end of calendar year 2026. The expanded investment reflects India’s growing role as a global hub for AI innovation and digital transformation.
The announcement followed discussions between Satya Nadella, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Microsoft and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during which the country’s AI roadmap and growth priorities were discussed. Microsoft said its investment strategy in India is anchored around three pillars, scale, skills and sovereignty, aligned with the government’s vision of building a nationally inclusive AI ecosystem.
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology, said the investment underscores India’s emergence as a trusted global technology partner and supports the country’s transition from digital public infrastructure to AI-driven public infrastructure.
The investment will support the expansion of Microsoft’s cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling programmes and operations across India. Microsoft currently employs more than 22,000 people across cities including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurugram and Noida, with teams contributing across product engineering, AI model development, infrastructure operations and customer support.
A significant portion of the investment will be directed towards strengthening India’s AI infrastructure backbone. Microsoft is progressing work on the India South Central cloud region in Hyderabad, which is expected to go live in mid-2026 and will become the company’s largest hyperscale region in the country, comprising three availability zones. The company is also expanding its existing data centre regions in Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune to provide greater resilience, low latency and choice for enterprises, startups and public sector institutions.
Microsoft is also integrating advanced AI capabilities into key digital public platforms operated by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, including e-Shram and the National Career Service (NCS). Built on Microsoft Azure, the platforms now offer features such as multilingual access, AI-assisted job matching, predictive analytics, automated résumé creation and personalised employment pathways. These initiatives aim to extend AI-driven services to more than 310 million informal workers across India.
Workforce development remains a core focus of Microsoft’s India strategy. The company has doubled its commitment to train 20 million Indians in AI skills by 2030, in collaboration with government bodies, industry partners and digital platforms. Through its ADVANTA(I)GE India initiative, Microsoft has already trained 5.6 million individuals since January 2025, enabling over 125,000 people to secure jobs or entrepreneurial opportunities.
In support of India’s data protection and regulatory requirements, Microsoft has introduced Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud solutions for Indian customers. These offerings provide built-in compliance controls, governance frameworks and flexible deployment options, including disconnected environments. Microsoft also plans to enable in-country data processing for Microsoft 365 Copilot in India by the end of 2025, strengthening compliance for regulated sectors such as government, banking and healthcare.
Microsoft said the expanded investment reinforces its long-term commitment to India by supporting innovation, trust and inclusive growth, while positioning the country as a global leader in the AI era.
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