Beyond the billions: Satya Nadella details AI strategy and major partnerships for India

Satya Nadella, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, today addressed an audience in New Delhi, kicking off the company’s three-day ‘India AI Tour’. Mr Nadella's address moved beyond the initial fanfare of the firm’s huge financial commitment of $17.5 billion, focusing instead on the practical roadmap for making Artificial Intelligence (AI) a foundation for inclusive growth across India.

The visit, which starts in Delhi before moving on to Bengaluru and Mumbai, follows Nadella’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday. During that interaction, Microsoft announced its largest-ever investment in Asia, a commitment of US$17.5 billion over four years (2026-2029) aimed at boosting AI infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities in the country. This colossal sum, the CEO noted today, is the structural backing required to realise India’s ambition of becoming an "AI-first future".

At the core of today’s event was the announcement of major strategic cloud and AI partnerships with prominent Indian companies and public sector entities. These collaborations are designed to immediately integrate cutting-edge AI technology into key areas of the economy. Microsoft is now partnering with groups such as Mahindra Group, Apollo Hospitals, Bajaj Finserv, and e-governance solutions provider RailTel to co-innovate and accelerate digital transformation. For instance, the collaboration with Apollo Hospitals is specifically aimed at leveraging AI for research into disease progression and improving healthcare delivery.

The keynote placed a heavy emphasis on skills and social impact. Microsoft has significantly upgraded its commitment to training the Indian workforce, doubling its pledge to upskill 20 million people in AI by 2030. This skilling programme aims for national scale and is key to preparing India’s massive talent pool for the global AI era.

In a move focused on inclusive development, Nadella highlighted the integration of Microsoft AI into government platforms like e-Shram and the National Career Service (NCS). This partnership is designed to benefit India's approximately 310 million informal sector workers by providing AI-driven tools for skilling and employment services.

Speaking on the visit's theme of ‘AI diffusion at population scale’, Nadella reinforced Microsoft’s commitment to supporting India’s vision to transition from digital public infrastructure to a comprehensive AI public infrastructure in the coming decade, ensuring the technological revolution empowers every citizen. The keynote was followed by a conversation with Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow at NITI Aayog & Chief Architect of the NITI Frontier Tech Hub. 

Post the conversation, Microsoft India & South Asia President, Puneet Chandok, came on stage and spoke about the importance of AI adoption in various industries and growing businesses and how he predicts that humans will have AI-based 'digital colleagues' in the future. After Chandok, Rajiv Kumar, President & Managing Director, IDC, Microsoft, got on, followed by various other industry leaders.