In a meeting with PM Modi, Nadella announces mega $17.5B investments, takes total India commitment to $20.5B by 2029

NEW DELHI: Big billions continue to flow into the Indian tech sector. Weeks after Google announced a $15 billion inflow for an AI hub and data centre, now Microsoft has announced a mega $17.5 billion (approximately Rs 1.5 lakh crore) investment in India with global CEO Satya Nadella meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday as he outlined the company’s plans to augment cloud and AI infrastructure in the country as well as expand in skilling and ongoing operations.

The fresh funds come on top of the $3 billion it had announced in the beginning of the year, and takes Microsoft’s total committed investments for India to $20.5 billion (around Rs 1.8 lakh crore) over the next four years.


This announcement is Microsoft’s biggest-ever investment in the Asian region and displays the importance of India in the company’s global expansion plans. “Thank you, PM @narendramodi ji, for an inspiring conversation on India’s AI opportunity. To support the country’s ambitions, Microsoft is committing US$17.5B — our largest investment ever in Asia — to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI first future,” Nadella said on X after the meeting with Modi.

Modi responded to Nadella’s message, and said the world has a focus on India when it comes to AI. “When it comes to AI, the world is optimistic about India! Had a very productive discussion with Satya Nadella. Happy to see India being the place where Microsoft will make its largest-ever investment in Asia. The youth of India will harness this opportunity to innovate and leverage the power of AI for a better planet.”

Microsoft said India is emerging as a frontier nation as far as AI is concerned. “India stands at a pivotal moment in its AI journey, one defined by impact at scale, determined to lead. As technology becomes a catalyst for inclusive growth and economic transformation, the country is emerging as a frontier AI nation.”

The company said it sees the investments in India poised to set new benchmarks and drive the country’s leap from digital public infrastructure to AI public infrastructure in the coming decade. “We are shaping a future that is more equitable and uniquely Indian in its scale and impact.”

The new investments will be used by the company to scale its cloud and AI infrastructure, bolster skilling initiatives as well as ongoing operations. “This includes our workforce of more than 22,000 employees across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Gurugram, Noida and other cities... They drive every part of our product cycle, from model development to engineering and product innovation. Their work contributes to innovation across Microsoft’s AI stack — from infrastructure to app platforms to products — while operating hyperscale datacenters and delivering sales and support to customers nationwide.”

Puneet Chandok, President of Microsoft India and South Asia, said the investments represent India’s AI moment. “We have in front of us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape the country’s growth story. This leap will influence how citizens have access to opportunities with AI, how businesses innovate, and how institutions deliver impact at national scale… India’s AI moment is here, and we are privileged to be copilots to India’s AI transformation.”

The company said the Indian teams are not only powering the country’s digital transformation but also delivering AI impact at scale globally —Copilot Studio, Azure AI Search, AI agents, AI speech and translation, Azure Machine Learning and more. “Every day, they collaborate closely with India’s leading enterprises, developers and institutions to unlock the promise of AI for the country.”

IT and Electronics Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said that as AI reshapes the digital economy, India remains committed to innovation anchored in trust and sovereignty. “Microsoft’s landmark investment signals India’s rise as a reliable technology partner for the world. This partnership will set new benchmarks and drive the country’s leap from digital public infrastructure to AI public infrastructure.”

The company said that one of its key priorities is to build secure, sovereign-ready hyperscale infrastructure to enable AI adoption in India. “At the heart of this effort is the significant progress being made at the India South Central cloud region, based in Hyderabad – that is set to go live in mid-2026. This will be our largest hyperscale region in India, comprising three availability zones — roughly equivalent in size to two Eden Gardens stadiums combined. We will also continue to expand our three existing operational data center regions in Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune.”

Microsoft is also introducing Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud for Indian customers. “With Sovereign Public Cloud now available in India, organizations can leverage a prescriptive architecture for deploying workloads in Azure with built-in compliance guardrails using Sovereign Landing Zones, do policy enforcement, and apply governance controls.”


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