Summary:
- Key Appointment: Vaishali Kasture joins Microsoft as SMC lead for India and South Asia, marking a significant shift from AWS.
- Strategic Focus: Her appointment aligns with Microsoft’s strategy to boost digital transformation and AI adoption in India and South Asia.
- Market Potential: India’s cloud services market is projected to reach $24.2 billion by 2028, driven by digitalization and AI demand.
Vaishali Kasture, the former interim country head of Amazon Web Services (AWS), has been appointed as the new Small, Medium, and Corporate (SMC) business lead for Microsoft in India and South Asia. This move marks the second major executive transition from AWS to Microsoft in under a year, highlighting the growing competition between the two tech giants in India’s rapidly expanding cloud market.
Kasture’s appointment was announced internally by Puneet Chandok, who also made a similar transition from AWS to Microsoft, now serving as the President of Microsoft India and South Asia. In an email obtained by Moneycontrol, Chandok emphasized the strategic timing of Kasture’s appointment, noting that it aligns with Microsoft’s efforts to drive digital transformation and AI adoption across the region. Kasture brings a wealth of experience from her tenure at AWS, where she successfully led the India business and established the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) segment.
On LinkedIn, Kasture expressed her excitement about her new role, stating her commitment to leading Microsoft’s SMC division at a time when businesses are increasingly adopting technology for cloud, AI, and data security. She referred to Microsoft’s role, quoting CEO Satya Nadella, as the “United Nations of Software,” dedicated to helping people and organizations achieve more.
Kasture’s new role comes at a critical time for Microsoft, as global cloud providers continue to invest heavily in India despite a global slowdown in cloud adoption due to budget constraints and a challenging macroeconomic climate. India remains a key focus market for cloud providers like Microsoft, Google, and IBM, driven by the early stages of digital transformation among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the country’s significant AI expertise.
The public cloud services market in India is projected to grow to $24.2 billion by 2028, bolstered by the digitalization of SMEs and a strong demand for technology and AI solutions. With nearly 100 new startups emerging daily, India’s cloud market is poised for substantial growth. Major cloud providers, including Google and IBM, are expanding their presence in the country, with Microsoft planning its largest data center in Hyderabad, an investment of over Rs 15,000 crore over the next 15 years.