Amazon raises India investment pledge to $35 billion by 2030

The world’s most populous country remains a high-growth market for large US internet firms such as Amazon and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, even as they’ve faced regulatory hurdles and stiff local competition

Amazon.com Inc. pledged to invest $35 billion in India over the next five years, boosting its spending in the key growth market to expand in businesses from quick commerce to cloud computing.

The US e-commerce giant will invest in areas such as artificial intelligence and logistics infrastructure, it said in a statement Wednesday. It said the planned outlay, through 2030, will help create an additional 1 million jobs in India.

The world’s most populous country remains a high-growth market for large US internet firms such as Amazon and Alphabet Inc.’s 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.

“We’re excited to continue being a catalyst for India’s growth, as we democratize access to AI for millions of Indians,” said Amit Agarwal, head of emerging markets at Amazon.

Amazon had previously said it would invest an additional $15 billion in India by 2030. That included plans by its cloud computing business, 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.