Microsoft has launched a new cloud region in India, marking a significant expansion of its cloud infrastructure in the country. The company this week announced the general availability of its India South Central cloud region in Hyderabad, Telangana, a project first announced in 2022.
The new region, which comprises three availability zones and features enhanced mechanical cooling with air-cooled chillers, is designed to support scalable and sovereign-ready AI workloads. "This gives customers the choice to run eligible Microsoft Cloud services and workloads from Hyderabad, with the security, reliability, and support of a fully operational Microsoft region. India South Central strengthens the country's foundation for scalable and sovereign-ready AI," the company said.
With this launch, Microsoft now operates four cloud regions in India – Central India in Pune, South India in Chennai, West India in Mumbai, and India South Central in Hyderabad. The company also operates two data centers in partnership with Jio: Jio India West and Jio India Central. Microsoft claims the largest hyperscale cloud presence in the country, backed by its previously announced plan to invest approximately $20.5 billion in data centers and AI across India.
Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, emphasized the strategic importance of the new region. "Whether it is a Frontier Firm already running AI at scale or an enterprise taking its first steps, the question we hear most often is: how do we move faster from experimenting with AI to creating durable business value with AI? That requires trusted infrastructure close to where data lives, teams work, and decisions are made," he said. "The Microsoft India South Central datacenter region is a critical part of that foundation, backed by Microsoft's $20.5 billion investment commitment to India's cloud and AI future. Making India AI-first is about bringing together the scale to support growth, the skills to unlock value, the sovereignty organizations expect, and the security they depend on. We are not investing in infrastructure to keep up with demand. We are investing in India's ability to set the pace for the world."
Named customers of the new region include Adani Digital Lab, Bajaj Finance, HDFC Bank, and PB Pay. Atish Bhanushali, SVP II and head of cloud infra at HDFC Bank, commented on the significance of the launch for his organization. "The launch of Microsoft's new South Central India region in Hyderabad is a significant milestone in HDFC Bank's Azure cloud journey. Having a dedicated DR region perfectly complements our Central India footprint, strengthening our business continuity and cross-cloud resilience. With its ample capacity and access to the latest compute capabilities, it will support our efforts to accelerate our AI initiatives and scale high-performance workloads, ensuring our banking services remain highly available, secure, and future-ready for our customers," he said.
To offset its energy use in the region, Microsoft has signed more than 1GW worth of power purchase agreements and other long-term agreements in India, with more than 630MW of that capacity already in operation. This move underscores the company's commitment to sustainable cloud growth as it continues to expand its footprint in one of the world's fastest-growing digital economies.
The launch of the Hyderabad region is expected to further accelerate cloud adoption and AI innovation among Indian enterprises, providing them with local access to Microsoft's full suite of cloud services while addressing data residency and sovereignty requirements. As competition intensifies among hyperscale providers in India, this expansion strengthens Microsoft's position as a leading cloud infrastructure provider in the region.