Pankaj Gupta, Country Leader for AWS India, in his keynote speech at the recently held AWS Empower India event reiterated the role of cloud technology in propelling India’s development. Echoing the inspirational words of former President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Gupta remarked, “You have to dream before your dreams can come true,” a sentiment that resonated with the event’s theme of Viksit Bharat 2047—India’s transformation goal for the next 23 years.
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Gupta highlighted 2024 as a landmark year for India, marked by monumental achievements in sports and global recognition of its economic progress. “From lifting the T20 Cricket World Cup to demonstrating incredible grit at the Olympics and Paralympics, India has celebrated one success after another,” he noted. This success, he explained, extends beyond sports, with India establishing itself as the fastest-growing large economy in the world.
In reflecting on India’s journey since gaining independence 75 years ago, Gupta shared remarkable statistics: the nation’s GDP has grown 100 times and its per capita income has surged by 500 times. These achievements, he stressed, are just the beginning. “The vision of Viksit Bharat 2047 is not just a dream but a powerful goal to transform India into a fully developed nation by the centenary of its independence,” he said.
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Gupta then transitioned to AWS India’s role in supporting this vision. He emphasized the public sector team’s mission to positively impact the lives of 1.4 billion Indians. “I’d like to talk about the mission of the AWS India public sector team and what we truly stand for. Our goal is to make a positive impact on the lives of every citizen in India—1.4 billion people—through AWS India. That’s our first objective. The second is to help India realize its full global potential as a digital nation, positioning itself as the world’s technology sandbox,” he declared while adding: “Over the years, we’ve had the fortunate opportunity to work closely with government departments at the central, state, and local levels, as well as educational institutions and not-for-profit organizations. Together, we’ve built and scaled some of the world’s largest population-scale platforms.”
AWS’s contributions to India’s digital transformation journey were illustrated through the example of the COWIN platform. “Today, it’s the world’s largest COVID vaccination system, supporting 2.2 billion vaccinations with 1.2 billion registrations. But did you know that COVID was also the world’s fastest-growing tech platform? It gained 200 million users in just four months and 300 million users in five months—all powered by AWS services, with zero downtime. Although COVID is behind us, the platform is evolving. It’s being integrated with other health systems, such as reproductive and maternal health, and is becoming what’s now known as the Universal Immunization Platform (UIM). The government is also looking to add 12 more vaccines, including Thelia, BCG, Tetanus, and Polio, to this platform,” he stated.
He further commented: “In India, there are 100 million children under the age of six, along with pregnant and lactating women, who need to be vaccinated each year. However, we currently lack a digital vaccination record. Moving forward, the government aims to create a cradle-to-grave longitudinal health record for every child from birth, addressing critical issues like malnutrition and high infant mortality rates.”
Gupta also highlighted AWS’s continued investments in India’s cloud infrastructure. From 2016 to 2022, AWS invested $3.7 billion in its Mumbai region, and plans are underway to invest an additional $12.7 billion by 2030. This expansion is expected to contribute $23.3 billion to India’s GDP and create 131,700 full-time jobs annually. “India’s cloud journey has only just begun,” Gupta concluded, “and AWS is committed to being a catalyst in transforming India into a digital powerhouse by 2047.”
