Microsoft announced on Thursday the general availability of its fourth cloud region in India, situated in Hyderabad. This allows customers to operate eligible Microsoft Cloud services and workloads from the location. The new India South Central region gives Microsoft the biggest hyperscale cloud footprint in the country, alongside its existing sites in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai. The launch forms part of the company’s USD 20.5 billion commitment to India’s digital and AI infrastructure, which includes a USD 3 billion pledge from January 2025 and a further USD 17.5 billion announced in December 2025. Puneet Chandok, President of Microsoft India and South Asia, stated that making India AI-first involves providing scale for growth, skills to create value, expected sovereignty and required security. The Hyderabad site includes three availability zones and supports mission-critical workloads with strong resilience. It uses next-generation zero-water cooling technology aligned with the firm’s target to become water-positive by 2030. The company noted early strong interest from major Indian firms including Adani Group, HDFC Bank, Bajaj Finserv and PB Pay. The move occurs amid fast digital expansion in India. Research firm IDC forecasts India’s public cloud services spending will reach USD 45.7 billion by 2030, rising 22.2 per cent annually, while AI spending is projected to grow at twice that rate.
