Microsoft Ropes In Former AWS Executive Vaishali Kasture As India SMC Lead

Microsoft has appointed former Amazon Web Services (AWS) executive, Vaishali Kasture, as the new general manager of its small, medium and corporate (SMC) business in India and South Asia.

Kasture, in a LinkedIn post, said, “I cannot think of a better time to take up the role as GM for the SMC business in India and South Asia. At a time when corporates and SMBs are harnessing the power of technology for everything from Cloud to AI, data to security, enriching every workflow with Gen AI as the go-to tool for productivity uplift, Microsoft is singularly positioned as a full-service technology company focussing on end-to-end technology stack.”

As per a Moneycontrol report, Microsoft India and South Asia head Puneet Chandok announced the appointment in an email to employees. 

“I am delighted to welcome Vaishali Kasture as the SMC lead for India and South Asia. SMC is at the heart of India’s digital transformation journey and Vaishali joins us at a pivotal moment as we build AI for everyone and copilot India & South Asia’s AI transformation,” Chandok reportedly said in the email. 

An alumnus of Mumbai’s Sydenham College of Commerce and Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Kasture previously worked with companies such as Deloitte, CitiBank and Goldman Sachs. 

She brings over 25 years of experience across corporate and investment banking, credit, outsourcing and technology. At AWS, she set up the independent software vendors (ISV) segment and led the digital native and enterprise segments.

She stepped down as the interim country head of AWS India in December last year. She is the second AWS India executive that Microsoft has poached in the past one year. In June last year, the big tech major roped in ex-AWS India head Puneet Chandok as the corporate vice president of Microsoft India and South Asia.

Kasture’s appointment comes as Microsoft looks to strengthen its position in the Indian cloud market, take on giant AWS, and complement its expansion plans in the country. Microsoft plans to establish its largest India data centre in Hyderabad with an investment of INR 15,000 Cr spanning 15 years.

Microsoft competes with the likes of AWS and Google Cloud in the competitive cloud computing space. As more and more businesses move online and the demand grows for cloud products, the big tech majors are vying for a piece of the growing market. 

As per a report, the Indian cloud services market is projected to reach a market size of $24.2 Bn by 2028.