Nadella lands major deal, signs Flipkart for Microsoft cloud service

Microsoft on Monday landed a major deal for its cloud platform Azure by signing a deal with India’s largest e-commerce firm Flipkart in Bengaluru.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Corporation attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. (Reuters File Photo)

Microsoft on Monday landed a major deal for its cloud platform Azure by signing up India's largest e-commerce firm Flipkart in Bengaluru.

The Redmond-based software giant's CEO Satya Nadella who is visiting Bengaluru said that Microsoft Azure will be the exclusive public cloud platform for Flipkart going forward.

"At Microsoft, we aim to empower every Indian and every Indian organization with technology and key to this is forging strategic partnerships with innovative companies like Flipkart," said Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft.

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"Combining Microsoft's cloud platform and AI capabilities with Flipkart's existing services and data assets, will enable Flipkart to accelerate its digital transformation in e-commerce and deliver new customer experiences."

"Given Microsoft's strong reputation in cloud computing, coupled with scale and reliability, this partnership allows us to leverage our combined strength and knowledge of technology, e-commerce and markets to make online shopping more relevant and enriching for customers," said Binny Bansal, co-founder and group CEO of Flipkart.

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Amazon, whose Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the largest cloud computing platform in the world is a competitor for both Microsoft (cloud computing and devices) and Flipkart (e-commerce and services).

Google had also announced in September 2016 that it plans to set up data centers in the country in 2017, as part of a global rollout through which it plans to set up "new cloud regions" in eight global locations at a rate of "one new region every month".