India set to evolve from digital to AI public infrastructure, says Microsoft executive

India is positioned to advance from its Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) model to an AI-driven public infrastructure over the next five years, according to Rajiv Kumar, President and Managing Director of Microsoft IDC.

Kumar said the country's experience with services such as Aadhaar, UPI and Digi Yatra, which reach citizens at scale, has laid the groundwork for the next phase. He described the shift from digital to AI as an exciting prospect and said it is what he expects to unfold over the coming five years.

Speaking about Microsoft's new India South Central data centre near Hyderabad, Kumar called it a strategic facility and one of the company's largest. It comprises three zones designed for tolerance and resiliency, can run all Azure services, and is built to scale for future services.

He attributed a positive experience in developing the centre to India's technology leadership, its DPI, favourable policies, a vibrant startup ecosystem, and the availability of capital and talent. He noted that the country had adopted the previous generation of technology effectively, with broad positive impact.

Microsoft has announced a total investment of USD 20.5 billion in India, Kumar said, focused on three areas: infrastructure, skilling, and ensuring AI remains sovereign, secure, scalable and sustainable. On infrastructure, he said the aim is to make India an AI-first nation, with data centres bringing AI capabilities closer to users and customers. Skilling, he added, is essential so that technology can be used effectively and delivered to end users.

Kumar also pointed to the growth of India's startup ecosystem, recalling that there were only one or two unicorns when he returned to the country in 2005, compared with more than 120 today. Most startups, he said, are beginning to use AI to solve customer problems. He recently reviewed startups at IIT Delhi's Unnati accelerator and found their choice of problem areas and use of AI encouraging.

On sustainability, Kumar said Microsoft has set a goal to be carbon negative, water positive and zero waste. The Hyderabad data centre uses air-cooling technology rather than water cooling, he said, adding that the company has introduced borewell chargers and soak pits and replenished about 5 million litres of water in the surrounding village by June 2026.

Regarding power, he said Microsoft would use green energy and is working with partners to generate an additional 1,000 megawatts, or 1 gigawatt, of energy in India. About 630 megawatts of green energy is already being generated through these partnerships, he said, adding that the effort is aimed at adding resources rather than drawing down existing ones.

Kumar also described Microsoft's global cloud network as spanning 80 regions and roughly 500 data centres, linked by dedicated fibre networks that include subsea, on-terrain and optical cables extending to the last mile, with Hyderabad among the connected locations.