Amazon Web Services Builds Data Centers in Mumbai

India: Cloud computing market in India is witnessing numerous developments on the back of growing demand for cloud based services, especially in IT-ITeS and eCommerce sector. A recent report published by TechSci Research, “India Cloud Computing Market Forecast and Opportunities, 2020” anticipated that the leading global cloud computing players would establish their data centers in India to meet the growing demand by various end user industries and to improve the existing services by providing high data security as well as high speed. It is projected that the market for cloud computing services in the country would grow at a CAGR of over 22% during 2015 - 2020.

Recently, Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing arm of Amazon established its five data centers in locations around Mumbai. AWS’ plans to open data centers in India are directed towards combating increasing competition in Indian cloud computing marketplace. Microsoft’s Azure and IBM are the key competitor for AWS. Lately, Microsoft launched three data centers in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai to provide Azure services to its customers. IBM Softlayer is also looking to establish a data center in India.

AWS is the leading player in the cloud computing market and serves more than 12,000 customers in India. Its clientele ranges from start-ups, developers, small-to-mid size businesses, enterprises, and educational institutes. The company’s customer portfolio includes Tata Motors, Macmillan India, Ramco, Apeejay Stya, Svran Group, Future Group, Jubilant Foodworks, PayTm and so on.

By establishing data centers in the country, AWS would have an opportunity to expand its customer portfolio by including financial and banking institutes. As per the guidelines of RBI, BFSI companies have to store any customer related data in India only; which restricts the cloud adoption by the sector. The presence of data centers in India would provide the option for BFSI sector to look for the cost-efficient cloud services, and minimizing the CAPEX cost related to having their own data centers.