IPO-bound Meesho in Rs 127-crore arbitration dispute with AWS over unpaid cloud bills

Meesho faces Rs 127-crore arbitration with Amazon Web Services over unpaid cloud bills

E-commerce unicorn Meesho has found itself entangled in a legal tussle with Amazon Web Services (AWS) India, one of its key technology vendors, over alleged non-payment of cloud service dues.

According to the Meesho’s draft red herring prospectus (DRHP), AWS initiated proceedings before a three-member tribunal in New Delhi under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, citing unpaid dues tied to a Private Pricing Addendum (PPA) signed in February 2022.

AWS has claimed Rs 127.45 crore ($14.44 million) from Meesho, covering “spend commitment shortfall payment amount, pending service fees, interest on the respective payments and the cost of arbitration”.

How has Meesho responded?

Meesho has disputed invoices, alleging “deficiencies in the services provided by AWS” and challenged the validity of the PPA’s minimum commitment clause.

In a counterclaim filed on January 31, Meesho demanded Rs 86.49 crore, citing business losses “due to disruption of business and inadequate support provided by AWS, salary costs incurred due to migration from services procured from AWS, along with interest and costs".

AWS filed its reply in March and the matter remains pending before the arbitral tribunal.

Why this matters for Meesho?

The spat highlights Meesho’s deep reliance on cloud infrastructure to run its vast value-commerce ecosystem — from order fulfilment to payments and recommendation systems. Any dispute with a major cloud provider such as AWS can have operational and cost implications for a company that processed 1.59 billion orders in FY25.

The DRHP also shows Meesho plans to allocate Rs 1,390 crore from its upcoming Rs 4,250-crore IPO toward strengthening its technology and cloud backbone, suggesting an effort to diversify and reinforce its infrastructure stack.

What else is on Meesho’s litigation list?

The AWS arbitration adds to a growing list of legal challenges for Meesho, which also faces tax and vendor disputes worth over Rs 710 crore, including a Rs 572-crore income tax claim.

While the company remains cash-flow positive and among the fastest-growing e-commerce players, such proceedings can emerge as key diligence points for investors ahead of what is expected to be one of India’s largest tech IPOs of 2026.