Amazon to invest additional $35B in India by 2030, taking total planned spending to $75B

On Wednesday, Amazon announced its intention to invest an additional $35 billion in India by 2030, raising its total planned investment in the country to approximately $75 billion. This substantial commitment is aimed at enhancing its retail and cloud services within the rapidly growing South Asian market. The e-commerce titan emphasized that this new funding will be pivotal in digitizing small enterprises and reinforcing its logistics capabilities across India. Amazon intends to facilitate access to artificial intelligence for up to 15 million small businesses, while also generating around 1 million jobs—both direct and indirect—by the end of the decade. According to an Economic Impact Report from Keystone Strategy, Amazon has already invested nearly $40 billion in India. Earlier this year, the company pledged $15 billion for future investments, with $12.7 billion allocated specifically for its cloud operations through Amazon Web Services. This announcement comes shortly after Microsoft revealed plans to invest $17.5 billion in India by 2029, and Google’s commitment of $15 billion to establish an AI hub and data center infrastructure in the country. India is becoming a critical market for major tech companies, attracted by its vast population, which includes over a billion internet users and hundreds of millions of smartphone owners. The country is also appealing to AI firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity, as a growing number of citizens come online for the first time, accelerating the adoption of generative AI technologies. Russell Grandinetti, Amazon's Senior VP of International Stores, highlighted the significance of this investment during the company's annual Smbhav event in New Delhi, stating, "What’s happening here is inevitably going to influence our global business strategies." Despite facing fierce competition in India from Walmart-backed Flipkart, Meesho, and swift-commerce platforms such as Swiggy’s Instamart, Zomato’s Blinkit, and Zepto, Amazon leverages its extensive logistics network and large seller base of over 1.7 million to maintain a competitive edge. Amit Aggarwal, Amazon’s Senior VP of Emerging Markets, reinforced the company's outlook by declaring, "India remains one of Amazon’s largest long-term opportunities."