Microsoft and Yotta Partner to Support IndiaAI Mission and Expand Hybrid AI Infrastructure

Microsoft and Yotta Data Services announced a strategic partnership on Wednesday to accelerate AI adoption in India by integrating Microsoft Azure AI services with Yotta’s Shakti Cloud platform. 

The agreement allows the companies to jointly support startups, enterprises, government agencies, and research institutions across the country. Microsoft will bring Azure AI’s models, apps, and tools to Shakti Cloud, while Yotta will provide sovereign cloud infrastructure equipped with GPU capabilities for training and inference.

The collaboration supports the IndiaAI Mission and brings low-latency, secure AI solutions to sectors such as healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing.

IndiaAI Mission, a MeitY initiative, has received over 500 proposals for indigenous AI model development as of May 2025. Microsoft and Yotta plan to work with IITs, research institutions, and startups to develop local AI capabilities that are aligned with India’s Digital Public Infrastructure.

“This partnership is a key step forward towards India’s AI self-reliance and digital transformation,” said Sunil Gupta, Co-founder, CEO and Managing Director of Yotta Data Services. “It will make cutting-edge AI capabilities accessible for Indian enterprises of all sizes and give a huge boost to driving the nation’s AI ambitions.”

Puneet Chandok, president of Microsoft India and South Asia, said, “Our partnership with Yotta to power Shakti Cloud will help unlock AI innovation at scale. India is already among the top global markets for AI adoption and return on investment.”

The joint offering provides customers access to foundational large and small language models through Azure AI Foundry, combined with Yotta’s sovereign AI infrastructure hosted in India. This includes built-in safety tools, copyright protection, content filters, and groundedness detection to support responsible AI development.

Earlier in January 2025, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced a collaboration with IndiaAI, a division of Digital India Corporation, to set up AI Centres of Excellence and AI Productivity Labs. The goal is to advance AI research and promote inclusive growth across the country.Nadella also announced Microsoft’s largest investment in India yet, a $3 billion commitment to expand Azure’s infrastructure in the country.