Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing arm of Amazon, has announced plans to invest approximately $8.2 billion in India's western state of Maharashtra over the next few years, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology confirmed on Monday.

The significant investment is part of India's broader efforts to promote local cloud data storage in the rapidly growing market. According to a report by International Data Corporation, India's cloud services market—valued at $8.3 billion in 2023—is expected to expand to $24.2 billion by 2028.

"Along with the investment, there will be significant growth in employment," said minister of electronics and information technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, adding that the investments will roll out by 2029-2030.

Vaishnaw also revealed that Amazon will deploy its own graphics processing units, latest technologies and cloud management services in India as part of this expansion plan.

The e-commerce giant currently operates two data centres in the Indian subcontinent—one in Mumbai, launched in 2016, and another in Hyderabad, which began operations in 2022.

This announcement follows Amazon's pledge last year to invest an additional $2 billion in Asia's third-largest economy to strengthen its e-commerce business. At its annual Smbhav event in December 2024, Amazon India's country manager Samir Kumar stated that the company aims to "digitise 10 million small businesses" and has "enabled over 12 million small businesses to become a part of the digital economy."

The AWS investment is expected to bolster Maharashtra's position as a technology hub and comes shortly after the state's chief minister Devendra Fadnavis revealed that Tata Sons will design the master plan for Maharashtra's AI-powered 'Innovation City'.

This development aligns with a broader trend of technology companies expanding their investments in India. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a $3 billion investment over the next two years to strengthen India's AI and cloud infrastructure and skilling initiatives.

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