New Delhi , September 20, 2026 ; Bharti Airtel’s homegrown cloud platform Airtel Cloud has signed up around 40 customers within a year of its launch, with manufacturing companies accounting for nearly 25 per cent of its customer base, according to sources familiar with the development.
The growth highlights Airtel’s push to capture the expanding demand for sovereign cloud infrastructure among Indian enterprises seeking greater control over sensitive data, critical workloads and digital operations.
Airtel’s digital subsidiary Xtelify launched Airtel Cloud in August 2025 as a sovereign, telco-grade cloud platform designed specifically for Indian businesses.
Manufacturing Emerges as a Key Customer Segment
Sources said manufacturing companies now represent about one-fourth of Airtel Cloud’s customers. VE Commercial Vehicles is among the manufacturing companies using the platform, according to people familiar with the matter.
An email seeking comments from Airtel did not receive a response.
Manufacturers are increasingly adopting connected machinery, automated production systems, industrial sensors and AI-driven analytics. This is generating significant volumes of operational data and increasing demand for reliable cloud infrastructure.
For manufacturers, cloud technology is increasingly being used not only for conventional IT modernisation but also to connect production systems, warehouses, legacy applications and supply-chain platforms.
Customer Base Expands From 33 to About 40
Airtel Executive Vice Chairman Gopal Vittal had said during the company’s Q1 FY27 earnings call that Airtel Cloud added 11 new customers during the quarter, taking its customer count to 33 at that time.
Vittal said the company was seeing strong momentum, with critical services increasingly being deployed on the platform.
Airtel Cloud was originally developed to support Airtel’s own large-scale digital operations and, according to the company, has been tested to handle 1.4 billion transactions per minute.
Focus on Sovereign Cloud
The India-hosted platform provides cloud infrastructure, connectivity and GenAI-based provisioning for enterprises handling mission-critical and regulated workloads.
The growing focus on data sovereignty is particularly relevant for manufacturers, where industrial data can include sensitive intellectual property, proprietary processes and operational information.
Sovereign cloud infrastructure allows organisations to keep data and critical cloud infrastructure under domestic control while addressing security, governance and compliance requirements.
Backup and Disaster Recovery See Traction
Airtel says its cloud offering includes automated backup, data replication and disaster recovery capabilities, along with connectivity linking factories, offices, cloud environments and recovery sites through its network.
Vittal has said Airtel is seeing demand for relatively straightforward cloud services that enterprises can quickly adopt, including:
- Disaster recovery
- Backup-as-a-Service
- Storage-as-a-Service
- Video surveillance-as-a-Service
According to Vittal, larger opportunities are emerging around sovereign cloud requirements involving sensitive workloads, particularly among regulated industries and public-sector enterprises.
India’s Cloud Market Enters a New Phase
The expansion of Airtel Cloud comes as Indian enterprises accelerate investments in AI, automation, connected manufacturing and digital infrastructure.
For manufacturers, the combination of cloud computing, industrial automation and AI is creating new requirements for scalable infrastructure while increasing the importance of data security, business continuity and domestic control.
With its customer base now at around 40, Airtel Cloud is positioning itself to compete for a growing share of India’s enterprise cloud market.
