Puneet Chandok, AWS India and South Asia head, has resigned

Puneet Chandok, the head of AWS in India and South Asia, has resigned, according to two sources familiar with the matter, a surprise move just weeks after the cloud giant pledged to invest over $12 billion in India by 2030.

Chandok, who served as the President of AWS India and South Asia, joined the e-commerce group four years ago, according to his LinkedIn. His last day at Amazon’s cloud unit is in August, one of the sources said. A broader group of Amazon executives were informed about the move on Tuesday, the source said.

Chatter among industry executives is that Chandok plans to join a rival firm. Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Sources requested anonymity to talk candidly about non-public information.

India, the world’s second largest internet market, has witnessed a considerable surge in cloud adoption across various industries in recent years, reflecting the sector’s robust growth. Amazon’s cloud division holds a dominant position within the market, boasting a roster of prominent customers such as the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Axis Bank, HDFC Life, BankBazaar, Niti Aayog, Physics Wallah and Acko.

Google, which like Amazon has two cloud regions in India, and Microsoft, which maintains three, have also expanded their cloud businesses in the country in recent years. The overall India public cloud services market is expected to reach $13 billion by 2026, according to researcher IDC.

Vaishali Kasture, head of enterprise, mid-market and global businesses at AWS India & South Asia, is taking on the role of interim leader of commercial business at the unit effective immediately.