Amazon Commits $12.7B to India’s AI Growth, Empowering 15M SMBs and 4M Students by 2030

Amazon has announced a massive $12.7 billion investment in India’s AI and cloud infrastructure by 2030, aiming to empower over 15 million small businesses and provide AI literacy to 4 million government-school students.

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Key highlights of Amazon’s India AI push

• Investment size: $12.7 billion allocated to local cloud and AI infrastructure by 2030.
• Target audience:
  • 15 million SMBs: Access to AI tools like seller assistants, generative listing tools, creative ad studios, and video generators.
  • 4 million students: AI literacy and career awareness programs in government schools.
• Government alignment: Supports India’s AI Mission, focusing on accessibility, productivity, and digital inclusion.
• Infrastructure expansion: Strengthening AWS capacity in Telangana and Maharashtra, extending access to tier-3 entrepreneurs.
• Consumer benefits: More personalized shopping on Amazon.in through deeper AI integration, including its assistant Rufus.

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Strategic implications

• For SMBs: AI tools deliver enterprise-grade intelligence and lower advertising/content creation costs.
• For students: AI literacy prepares youth for future tech careers and broadens access beyond elite institutions.
• For India’s tech ecosystem: Positions India as a global AI hub and accelerates innovation via Amazon’s infrastructure.

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Risks and challenges

• Digital divide: Rural and underserved access requires strong local government partnerships.
• Data privacy and regulation: Compliance with India’s DPDP Act could be complex for AI-driven services.
• Competition: Heavy investments from Reliance Jio, Google, and Microsoft intensify market battles.
• Infrastructure bottlenecks: Power, connectivity, and cloud adoption in smaller towns may slow rollout.

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Big picture

Amazon’s bet goes beyond e-commerce—embedding into India’s digital public infrastructure. Targeting SMBs and students frames AI as both a growth engine and social equalizer, potentially redefining India’s role in the global AI economy by 2030.

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Comparative AI Investment Strategies in India

Amazon’s $12.7B AI investment in India is part of a broader race among tech giants including Microsoft, Google, and Reliance Jio. Each company is targeting different audiences and infrastructure priorities to shape India’s AI future.

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Key Highlights

• Amazon: Focused on SMB empowerment and student AI literacy, aligned with India’s AI Mission.
• Microsoft: Driving enterprise adoption and workforce skilling through Copilot and cloud expansion.
• Google: Building India’s largest AI hub in Vizag, supporting startups and deep-tech ecosystems.
• Reliance Jio: Positioning as India’s homegrown AI champion with giga-scale data centers and consumer-first AI.

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Comparative Table

Company	Investment Size & Timeline	Focus Areas	Target Audience	Infrastructure & Partnerships	Strategic Positioning
Amazon	$12.7B by 2030	AI tools for SMBs, AI literacy for students, cloud expansion	15M SMBs, 4M govt-school students	AWS expansion in Telangana & Maharashtra; supports India’s AI Mission	Embedding AI into commerce + education; democratizing access
Microsoft	$3B over 2 years (2025–2027)	Cloud + AI infra, skilling, Copilot ecosystem	10M people skilled by 2030; half a million by 2026	New data centers; AI Innovation Network; govt partnerships	Positioning India as AI-first nation; enterprise + workforce skilling
Google	~$15B over 5 years (2026–2030)	AI hub in Vizag; AI Futures Fund for startups; consumer AI stack	Startups, developers, consumers	AI hub in Andhra Pradesh; partnership with Accel Atoms; Adani $5B co-investment	Building India’s largest AI infra hub; deep-tech startup ecosystem
Reliance (Jio)	$11B by 2030	AI-native data centers; “Reliance Intelligence” GenAI push	Enterprises, consumers, govt	JV with Brookfield & Digital Realty; 1GW AI campus in Vizag	Aggressive GenAI play; “AI everywhere for every Indian” vision

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Key Takeaways

• Amazon: Socially inclusive, targeting SMBs and students.
• Microsoft: Enterprise adoption and workforce skilling.
• Google: Infrastructure scale and startup ecosystems.
• Reliance: Homegrown AI champion with giga-scale infra.

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Risks & Challenges

• Overlap in Vizag: Google and Reliance both building mega AI hubs in Visakhapatnam.
• Regulatory compliance: Navigating India’s DPDP Act and evolving AI governance frameworks.
• Digital divide: Amazon’s SMB/student rollout may face infra challenges in tier-3 towns.
• Market saturation: $40B+ combined investments risk overcapacity unless demand scales rapidly.

Nexus Venture Partners Closes $700M Fund VIII to Back AI and Early-Stage Innovators in India & US

Nexus Venture Partners (“Nexus”), a leading venture capital firm investing in transformational startups across India and the United States, today announced the closing of Nexus Ventures VIII, a $700 million fund to back exceptional founders building AI, enterprise software, consumer and fintech startups at inception, seed, and Series A stages in India and the US. Nexus VIII has the support of world-class limited partners, the majority of whom have been with the firm since the early days.

Founded by entrepreneurs and engineers with deep technical and operating experience, Nexus has established itself over the last two decades as the trusted go-to partner for early-stage founders. Nexus has extensive hands-on experience in helping scale companies from inception to IPO. Over the years, the firm has invested in more than 130 companies and achieved over 30 exits, including several IPOs. They have a strong track record of investing in AI stack innovators, developer platforms, open-source infrastructure, AI agents, consumer, and fintech companies.

From new-age, fast-growing AI startups like Avoca, Giga, TensorWave, Firecrawl, and Gumloop, or established leaders like Postman, Apollo, Fingerprint, MinIO, Zepto, Turtlemint, Delhivery, India Shelter and Rapido, Nexus has consistently backed a roster of exceptional founders who are challenging the status quo and reimagining how things are done. Along with seminal enterprise AI startups in the US, Nexus is also investing in generational consumer, fintech, and AI companies in India, one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, with accelerating digital consumption powered by advanced payments infrastructure, mobile adoption, and ubiquitous broadband.

“The last few years have been surreal for the technology world with trailblazing breakthroughs in generative AI and an unprecedented pace of AI adoption across consumers and businesses alike”, quoted Nexus partners. “From infrastructure to applications, every layer of the tech stack is getting rewritten by AI. Agentic AI is transforming how work gets done, bringing a whole new wave of augmentation and automation across industries.”

They added, “Over the years, we have had the pleasure of backing several founders from the early days of their journeys, who have gone on to take their companies public or are poised to do so soon. With Fund VIII, we’re doubling down on visionary entrepreneurs solving the hardest problems and shaping the next wave of global innovation”.

Nexus’s integrated approach, with depth of experience and relationships across the Bay Area and India, enables it to focus on the two largest startup ecosystems in the world: the US and India.

The firm remains uniquely positioned to help build path breaking companies in both the geographies.

About Nexus Venture Partners

Nexus is an early-stage venture capital firm partnering with the most ambitious founders building product-first companies. Founded in 2006, Nexus manages $3.2 billion in capital across funds and operates as an integrated team across the US and India. Nexus portfolio includes Postman, Apollo.io, Zepto, MinIO, Fingerprint, Avoca, Firecrawl, Orkes, Gumloop, Neysa, Giga, Tensorwave, Druva, Observe.ai, Daloopa, Pubmatic, PromptQL, Delhivery, Turtlemint, India Shelter, Rapido, Infra.Market, Ultrahuman, and more.

TCS and OpenAI in Advanced Talks to Build 500 MW AI Infrastructure in India

OpenAI and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) are reportedly in advanced talks to build large-scale AI infrastructure in India, including leasing 500 MW of data centre capacity from TCS’s HyperVault and co-developing agentic AI solutions for industries like BFSI, retail, consumer goods, and manufacturing.

The Economic Times was the first to report the TCS–OpenAI talks, and subsequent coverage across Mint, Moneycontrol, and Hindustan Times all traced back to ET’s scoop.

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Key highlights

• Scale of Infrastructure: OpenAI is negotiating to lease at least 500 MW of AI data centre capacity from TCS HyperVault to train and run its models locally.
• Strategic Partnership: TCS aims to leverage OpenAI’s large language models to build agentic AI solutions for enterprise clients across multiple sectors.
• Stargate Initiative: The deal could mark the launch of OpenAI’s Stargate project in India, a global expansion effort to decentralize AI compute.
• Market Entry: This partnership signals OpenAI’s deeper entry into the Indian market after earlier talks with Reliance reportedly stalled.
• TCS Ambition: TCS is positioning itself to become the world’s largest AI-led services company, using OpenAI’s technology as a backbone.

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Why this matters

• For India: Hosting OpenAI’s compute infrastructure would make India a global AI hub, boosting local innovation and reducing reliance on overseas data centres.
• For TCS: It strengthens TCS’s role not just as an IT services giant but as a core AI infrastructure provider, potentially reshaping its competitive edge against Infosys, Wipro, and Accenture.
• For OpenAI: Localizing infrastructure helps OpenAI comply with India’s data sovereignty rules and expand its reach in one of the fastest-growing digital markets.

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Risks & challenges

• Regulatory Scrutiny: India’s upcoming Digital India Act and AI-specific regulations could impose strict compliance requirements.
• Energy & Sustainability: Running 500 MW of AI compute raises questions about energy consumption and carbon footprint.
• Geopolitical Sensitivities: With AI infrastructure becoming strategic, government oversight and competition with other global players (Google, Microsoft, Anthropic) will intensify.

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Bottom line

If finalized, the TCS–OpenAI deal would be a landmark in India’s AI journey—combining OpenAI’s frontier models with TCS’s enterprise reach and infrastructure muscle. It could accelerate India’s ambition to be a global AI powerhouse, but execution will hinge on regulatory clarity, sustainable energy use, and competitive positioning.

To recall, Reliance Industries too hold talks with OpenAI in September 2025 as part of OpenAI’s effort to launch its Stargate India project, but those negotiations stalled without an agreement. Reliance had proposed leveraging its Jio cloud and telecom backbone to host AI compute and distribute services, but regulatory and commercial complexities prevented a deal.

OpenAI also engaged with the Indian government during this period to explore regulatory alignment. Talks did not materialize, and Reliance instead strengthened partnerships with Meta and Google to build its own IGW compute hub in Jamnagar, Gujarat.  

TCS vs Reliance: OpenAI’s India strategy comparison

A comparative map of OpenAI’s reported talks with TCS versus earlier discussions with Reliance. 

Dimension	TCS partnership (current talks)	Reliance partnership (earlier talks)
Infrastructure scale	Negotiating ~500 MW AI data centre capacity via TCS HyperVault	Proposed data centre + telecom integration through Jio’s cloud and fiber backbone
Focus areas	Enterprise AI solutions across BFSI, retail, consumer goods, manufacturing	Consumer + enterprise AI with emphasis on Jio platforms and mass-market rollout
Execution model	TCS as AI infrastructure provider + services integrator	Reliance as platform + distribution partner leveraging Jio’s reach
Regulatory fit	Neutral IT services model aligns with data sovereignty compliance	Telecom-linked operations raised spectrum and regulatory overlap concerns
Global positioning	TCS aiming to be the world’s largest AI-led services company	Reliance positioning as India’s AI gateway with consumer-first scale
Outcome (so far)	Talks reportedly in advanced stage	Discussions reportedly stalled over commercial + regulatory complexities

Implications for India’s AI ecosystem

TCS’s potential role could make India a global AI compute hub, not just a consumer market. Enterprise-first trajectory under TCS versus consumer-first push under Reliance will shape rollout. Neutral IT services positioning may be easier to regulate than telecom-linked dominance.

And, as a competitive ripple, Infosys, Wipro, HCL, and Accenture will be pressed to match scale and capabilities.

Strategic picture

• Reliance: Sought to be the distribution layer for AI in India; stalled amid regulatory and commercial hurdles.
• TCS: Positioning as infrastructure + enterprise services backbone; more globally aligned and sustainable.
• India: Gains in either scenario—consumer access via Reliance or infrastructure leadership via TCS.

Ultraviolette Raises $45M Series E from Zoho & Lingotto, Strengthening India’s Global EV Play

• This growth capital in Ultraviolette will accelerate the domestic and international scale up of current products F77 and X-47 and future product platforms Shockwave and Tesseract
• The investment from Zoho Corporation was led by Sridhar Vembu, Mani Vembu and Kumar Vembu
• Ultraviolette recently launched the X-47 Crossover electric motorcycle which has seen high demand across the country
• Ultraviolette has expanded to 30 cities across India in a short span of 12 months and is expanding to 100 cities by mid-2026

Ultraviolette, today announced that it has secured $45 million as part of its ongoing Series E round. The latest infusion comes from leading Indian technology company Zoho Corporation, and Lingotto one of Europe's largest investment management companies.

This continued momentum in Ultraviolette’s Series E round underscores sustained investor confidence in the company’s growth trajectory and global ambitions. With the F77 and the recently launched X-47, Ultraviolette has built a unique design and technology-led enterprise.

We are glad to announce our Series E investment from Zoho and Lingotto, said Narayan Subramaniam, Co-Founder & CEO, Ultraviolette. Lingotto’s legacy of backing iconic performance and mobility brands, combined with Zoho’s long-term commitment to fostering cutting-edge Indian innovation, aligns perfectly with Ultraviolette’s mission to build category-defining electric mobility solutions for India and global markets.

Niraj Rajmohan, CTO & Co-Founder, Ultraviolette commented, With the ongoing Series E investments, we are doubling down on growth and expanding our production to meet increasing demand. Our focus is on advancing breakthrough battery technology, elevating performance capabilities and expanding production to support upcoming product platforms. This investment will accelerate our journey towards scaling into India and global markets.

Ultraviolette (UV) is an innovator in future-ready Electric Vehicle Platforms and Battery Technology. Infused with Aviation DNA, this enterprise was conceived in 2016 by the founders, Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan. Ultraviolette is backed by a spectrum of global investors, including Lingotto, TDK Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, Zoho Corporation, TVS Motors, and Speciale Invest.

Samsung Unveils Galaxy Tab A11 in India

Samsung, India’s largest consumer electronics brand, today unveiled the Galaxy Tab A11, a tablet that brings together immersive entertainment, smooth performance and versatility for users across age groups.

Key Features

• 8.7" display with 90Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and immersive viewing.
• Dolby-engineered dual speakers delivering rich, multidimensional audio.
• Powered by a 6nm-based octa-core processor for fast, power-efficient performance.
• 5100mAh battery supporting long browsing, gaming, and binge-watching sessions.
• 5MP front camera for sharper, clearer video calls.
• Available in classic Gray and Silver.
• Up to 8GB RAM for seamless multitasking.
• 128GB storage, expandable up to 2TB via microSD card.

Galaxy Tab A11 comes with an 8.7" display featuring a 90Hz refresh rate, delivering an unparalleled viewing and smooth scrolling experience in any lighting condition—whether you are browsing the web, catching up on social media, or streaming your favourite shows. The Galaxy Tab A11 also features Dolby-engineered dual speakers that deliver rich, multidimensional audio, perfect for movies, music, or video calls.

Powered by a 6nm-based octa-core processor, Galaxy Tab A11 delivers fast and power-efficient performance, ideal for seamless multitasking. It also packs a 5100mAh battery that supports long sessions of browsing, gaming, and binge-watching.

Galaxy Tab A11 comes with a 5MP front camera for sharper, clearer video calls. Whether you are catching up with family or collaborating with your team, the enhanced clarity lets you see every expression in lifelike detail.

Available in classic Gray and Silver, Galaxy Tab A11 offers up to 8GB of memory, enabling fast and seamless multitasking. It also comes with 128GB of storage, providing plenty of space for large files. Additionally, users can expand the storage up to 2 TB with a microSD card.

Price and Availability

Galaxy Tab A11 will be available on Samsung.com, Amazon, Flipkart and select retail stores.

Product	Connectivity	RAM	Storage	Price	Bank Cashback
Galaxy Tab A11	WiFi	4GB	64GB	INR 12,999	INR 1,000
Galaxy Tab A11	LTE	4GB	64GB	INR 15,999	INR 1,000
Galaxy Tab A11	WiFi	8GB	128GB	INR 17,999	INR 1,000
Galaxy Tab A11	LTE	8GB	128GB	INR 20,999	INR 1,000