Overview
- Satya Nadella announced the commitment after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling it Microsoft’s largest investment in Asia.
- The funding will be deployed from 2026 to 2029 across three pillars: scale, skills, and sovereignty, building on a $3 billion pledge made in January 2025.
- Microsoft’s India South Central cloud region in Hyderabad is slated to go live in mid-2026 as the company’s largest hyperscale footprint in the country.
- Azure AI capabilities will be integrated into national platforms e-Shram and the National Career Service, targeting services for more than 310 million informal workers.
- Microsoft doubled its AI skilling goal to train 20 million people in India by 2030 and highlighted sovereign-ready cloud offerings, as India attracts rival investments such as Google’s $15 billion.