Amazon will be more than doubling its investment in India to $26 billion by 2030, as the e-commerce major reinforces its commitment to one of the world's biggest technology markets, its chief executive has said. The world's largest e-commerce company will be investing an additional $15 billion over the next seven years – in addition to an initial $11 billion — to boost multiple sectors in South Asia's largest economy, Andy Jassy said on Friday during a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2023/06/23/biden-relationship-india-modi-visit-us/" target="_blank">Mr Modi was on a visit to Washington</a>, where he met with top government and industry leaders to pitch India's manufacturing and economic potential. The "productive meeting" discussed "Amazon’s commitment to invest $26 billion in India by 2030; working together we will support start-ups, create jobs, enable exports and empower individuals and small businesses to compete globally", Mr Jassy said on Twitter. Seattle-based Amazon has not released an official statement on the matter. India is a hotbed for technology, with entrepreneurs taking advantage of a population of more than 1.4 billion who rely on smart digital services every day. Many technology companies have set up shop there to take advantage of the opportunities India offers. India’s manufacturing exports in fiscal year 2022 hit an unprecedented $418 billion, a growth of more than 40 per cent compared to the $90 billion recorded in the previous year, data from the India Brand Equity Foundation shows. By 2030, New Delhi expects the electronics manufacturing sector alone to be worth $300 billion, according to the IBEF. In April, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/technology/2023/04/17/apple-seeks-bigger-bite-of-indias-booming-market-with-first-stores/" target="_blank">Apple opened its first retail stores in the country</a>, targeting a retail market with enormous growth potential and a <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2022/09/26/apple-will-manufacture-new-iphone-14-in-india/">promising manufacturing base</a>. That is a follow-up to <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/2022/09/26/apple-will-manufacture-new-iphone-14-in-india/" target="_blank">the start of Apple manufacturing its iPhone 14 in Chennai</a>, shifting some of its production from China and a boost to the Modi government's Make in India campaign. US retailer Walmart, Amazon's chief rival in India, earlier this year announced that it will spend $2.5 billion in India to tap into the nation's booming retail and e-commerce sectors. Earlier this month, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/money/2023/05/17/sam-altman-openai-net-worth/">Sam Altman, the chief executive of ChatGPT creator OpenAI</a>, said that he was confident that artificial intelligence will play a crucial role in India's technology and economic sectors, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/technology/2023/06/10/openais-sam-altman-bullish-on-ais-role-in-india/" target="_blank">he said during a meeting with Mr Modi</a>. Separately on Friday, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai said that the company will establish a global FinTech centre in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City. Start-ups are also a key driver of the country's tech engine, with 272,732 businesses recognised by the government's Startup India programme. <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/technology/2022/08/02/abu-dhabis-g42-healthcare-teams-up-with-aws-to-offer-genome-sequencing/">Amazon Web Services</a>, the company's cloud computing unit, said in May that it will invest $12.7 billion into cloud infrastructure in India by 2030 to meet growing customer demand for cloud services. The investment, estimated by the company to contribute $23.3 billion to India’s economy by 2030, is a follow-up to AWS’s previous investment of $3.7 billion between 2016-2022 and will bring the US company’s total investment in India to $16.4 billion by 2030. In September, Amazon also expanded its renewable energy investments with 71 new renewable energy projects around the world, including its first solar farm in India. Mr Modi’s visit to Washington proved fruitful as it attracted a number of investment commitments. Among these is a pledge from US chip manufacturer Micron, which said it will invest up to $825 million to build its first assembly line in the country.
