Amazon to invest over $35 billion in India by 2030, betting big on AI

Amazon says it will invest over $35 billion in India through 2030, focusing on AI-driven digitisation, ecommerce exports and job creation, soon after Microsoft's $17.5 billion cloud and AI push

Within hours of the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in New Delhi and the Redmond software giant committing $17.5 billion investment in India over four years to advance the country’s cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, another US major has made mega announcements in AI among its focus areas. E-commerce powerhouse Amazon on Wednesday said it would increase its investments by more than $35 billion across all its businesses in India through 2030. The Seattle-headquartered company plans to spread this investment across what it calls its three strategic pillars—AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation—besides business expansion.

 

What is Amazon’s new India investment plan through 2030?

 

Earlier this month, Amazon had announced an investment of $12.7 billion in India to strengthen AI and web services through data centre expansion in Telangana and Maharashtra. With Wednesday’s announcement, the investment commitment has been increased to over $35 billion.

 

The company’s cumulative investments in India since 2010 are pegged at $40 billion, including compensation to employees and development of infrastructure.

 

Amazon’s marketplace online business was commercially launched in India in 2013.

 

With the latest committed investment, Amazon wants to further accelerate digital transformation, strengthen infrastructure, and support innovation across the country, according to a company statement. “These investments are strategically aligned with India’s national priorities and will focus on expanding AI capabilities, enhancing logistics infrastructure, supporting small business growth and creating jobs.”

 

What did Amazon say at Smbhav about AI, jobs and exports?

 

Speaking at Smbhav, the company’s annual summit for MSMEs, Amit Agarwal, Senior VP Emerging Markets at Amazon, said: “We are humbled to have been a part of India’s digital transformation journey over the past 15 years, with Amazon’s growth in India perfectly aligned with the vision of an Atmanirbhar and Viksit Bharat.” He added that Amazon had invested at scale in growing the physical and digital infrastructure for small businesses in India, creating millions of jobs, and taking Made-in-India global. “Looking ahead, we’re excited to continue being a catalyst for India’s growth, as we democratise access to AI for millions of Indians and quadruple cumulative ecommerce exports enabled to $80 billion by 2030.” The company said that by 2030, Amazon businesses will support 3.8 million direct, indirect, induced and seasonal jobs.

 

What is ‘Accelerate Exports’ and which clusters will Amazon target?

 

While at the previous edition of Smbhav last year, Amazon had outlined its export goals of $80 billion by 2030. On Wednesday, the company launched ‘Accelerate Exports’, a manufacturing-focused initiative designed to connect digital entrepreneurs with manufacturers.

 

This is expected to enable manufacturers to become successful global sellers. For this, Amazon plans to host on-ground onboarding drives in over 10 manufacturing clusters across India, including Tirupur, Kanpur, and Surat. At the Smbhav summit, Amazon announced a key partnership with the Apparel Export Promotion Council of India.

 

What does the Keystone Strategy report say about Amazon’s economic impact?

 

According to the ‘Economic Impact Report’ by Keystone Strategy, released on Wednesday at the Smbhav Summit in New Delhi, Amazon had digitised over 12 million small businesses and enabled $20 billion in cumulative ecommerce exports, while supporting approximately 2.8 million direct, indirect, induced and seasonal jobs across industries in India as of 2024.

 

Besides boosting cumulative exports to $80 billion by 2030, the company is looking to deliver “AI benefits to 14 million small businesses and hundreds of millions of shoppers”. In addition, it plans to provide AI education and career exploration opportunities to 4 million government school students.

 

Why are global tech majors ramping up AI investments in India?

 

Tech majors are looking at India closely while making their AI investment bets. Besides Microsoft and Amazon, Google has promised AI investments in India. In October, Google committed an investment of $15 billion to build an AI data centre in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh). Google is also in partnership with Reliance Industries to set up an AI-focused cloud region.