Himalaya Harbinger, Uttarakhand Bureau.
Amazon.com Inc. is doubling down on India with a $35-billion investment plan, even as Big Tech firms make a beeline to tap into the AI appetite of the world’s largest internet population.
The US e-commerce giant will invest in areas such as artificial intelligence and logistics infrastructure, it said in a statement Wednesday.
We are excited to continue being a catalyst for India’s economic growth, as we democratise access to AI for millions of Indians,” said Amit Agarwal, head of emerging markets at Amazon, in the statement.
Amazon had previously said it would invest an additional $15 billion in India by 2030. That included plans by its cloud computing business, the Amazon Web Services, to put $12.7 billion into its infrastructure in the South Asian nation to meet rising customer demand.
As part of its new targets, the company plans to quadruple e-commerce exports from India to $80 billion by 2030.
The news comes a day after Microsoft Corp. pledged to invest $17.5 billion in artificial intelligence and cloud computing in India over four years, targeting the world’s most populous nation to help fuel its growth.
The world’s most populous country remains a high-growth market for Big Tech firms such as Amazon and Google, even as they’ve faced regulatory hurdles and stiff local competition. Amazon is trying to keep up with rivals such as Walmart Inc.-backed Flipkart as well as Eternal Ltd.’s Blinkit, Swiggy Ltd.’s Instamart and Zepto, which together pioneered the near-instant deliveries that’ve proven popular with a broad swath of Indian consumers.
