Vaishali Kasture, former AWS India interim country head, has been appointed as Microsoft's SMC (small, medium, and corporate) lead for India and South Asia. She is the second top executive to leave AWS in the last year as companies compete for a larger share of the cloud business in India. She will lead Microsoft's SMC business unit in India. The unit focuses on serving the needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), a crucial segment of Microsoft's customer base in the country.
In September last year, Puneet Chandok, who previously served as AWS's head, became Microsoft India and South Asia's head and announced the change internally in an email. He mentioned, "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." He further highlighted Vaishali's extensive experience in Corporate and Investment Banking, Credit, Outsourcing, and Technology, including her recent leadership of the AWS India business.
Upon her appointment, Vaishali was delighted and took her LinkedIn account to share that, "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 Could 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 focusing on end-to-end technology stack."
