AWS India appoints Sriram Santhanam to lead startup business

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has appointed Sriram Santhanam as head of startup business in India, the company said in a statement.

Santhanam will be responsible for AWS’s engagement with Indian startups, focusing on enabling innovation, accelerating cloud adoption and strengthening collaboration with founders and venture-backed companies. His mandate includes guiding startups on architectural excellence, go-to-market enablement and scaling into long-term ventures.

AWS said Santhanam will lead its strategy to support startups across India by providing access to resources, cloud infrastructure and technical expertise. The company added that his leadership will help startups address platform security, resilience and business growth.

Santhanam has been with AWS for the past four years, where he headed the Independent Software Vendor (ISV) business. In that role, he worked with software partners on cloud transformation and software-as-a-service (SaaS) innovation.

Santhanam brings more than 25 years of experience in business-to-business sales across technology and enterprise services, according to company information. Prior to joining AWS, he held senior positions in sales and business development in multiple industries.

AWS is a subsidiary of Amazon and the world’s largest provider of cloud services. Reuters reported that AWS has made significant investments in India, including expanding its data centres and cloud zones. The company also runs startup-focused programmes that offer credits for cloud services, mentorship from AWS architects and access to investor networks.

India continues to be a priority market for AWS’s global startup strategy. The company said it aims to deepen penetration in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, where entrepreneurs are adopting cloud platforms to expand nationally and internationally.

Santhanam’s leadership will focus on combining technical expertise with go-to-market support, helping startups build resilient platforms and viable commercial models.