AWS Partners SHI India to Support Local AI Model Development Under IndiaAI Mission

Gate News message, April 21 — Amazon Web Services has partnered with Indian IT services company SHI India to support local AI model development in India under the IndiaAI Mission framework. The partnership will enable Indian organizations to access AWS tools including Amazon SageMaker and Amazon Bedrock, allowing them to train and customize large language models without building their own AI infrastructure.

SHI India, formerly known as Locuz, has been empaneled under the IndiaAI Mission to provide local implementation support for AWS services. The arrangement aims to reduce barriers to AI adoption among enterprises in India by offering both cloud tools and on-the-ground technical assistance.

The partnership reflects India’s broader AI infrastructure strategy. The IndiaAI Mission allocates Rs. 4,563.36 crore (approximately $545 million USD), with computing capacity as its largest budget line item. However, execution has faced delays; in 2024–25, 96% of the mission’s budget remained unspent. Meanwhile, private sector players Reliance Industries and Adani Group plan to invest over $200 billion in AI infrastructure including data centers.

The collaboration also aligns with India’s emerging “sovereign AI” strategy, which emphasizes data localization for regulated sectors like healthcare and finance. This trend is creating a market split between enterprises using global cloud platforms and regulated industries opting for local infrastructure providers to meet compliance requirements.