Nutanix is expanding its research and development (R&D) in India, making it the company’s largest R&D hub and a strategic growth market. As cloud adoption surges and digital infrastructure becomes foundational to business strategy, the US-based enterprise cloud software firm sees its Bengaluru and Pune R&D facilities evolving from a talent hub to a strategic innovation powerhouse. Faiz Shakir, vice-president & managing director – Southern Asia, Nutanix, speaks to Sudhir Chowdhary on the India expansion plans. Excerpts:
Why do you consider India a key business opportunity?
India has been one of Nutanix’s fastest-growing markets in Asia Pacific for several years, and among the fastest globally. The growth is driven by the rapid pace of digital transformation and cloud adoption by large enterprises across sectors. Nutanix supports mission-critical deployments in India’s leading banks, insurance giants, IT/ITeS majors, and manufacturers. Our unified platform helps organisations run their apps and manage their data anywhere. This is an attractive offer for organisations as we help them integrate their infrastructure, manage it in one place, and unlock the power of flexibility, AI and cloud migration.
Nutanix’s India revenue rose by 33% in the fourth quarter of FY25, ended July, way higher than the company’s impressive overall growth of 19% in the quarter. With this, for the first time, India has become Nutanix’s largest region in the Asia-Pacific and Japan market. Some of Nutanix’s key partners in India include Lenovo. Together, we have deepened the partnership to deliver AI-ready, enterprise cloud infrastructure tailored to local needs.
What are your key focus areas?
We are focusing on industries where digital infrastructure is mission-critical – BFSI, IT/ITeS, manufacturing, and healthcare. We are deployed in many global IT/ITeS firms headquartered in India, helping run customer-facing applications at scale. In manufacturing, we enable plants and supply chains to operate with agility and resilience. In healthcare, we support clinical systems with always-on, secure infrastructure. These sectors rely on the Nutanix Cloud Platform to stay ahead of competition, reduce cost, and increase reliability.
How do you drive AI expertise out of R&D centres?
India plays a key role in our R&D and innovation strategy, with many of these activities driven by our teams in Bengaluru and Pune. The India R&D centres are driving advancements in cloud automation, intelligent data services, and platform intelligence. As we integrate AI more deeply into our solutions, India is emerging as a powerhouse for AI and machine learning talent. The focus is on building scalable, secure, and enterprise-ready AI solutions that power the next generation of private and hybrid clouds for our customers globally.
What do the next five years look like?
With cloud adoption accelerating across industries, and increasing government focus on digital infrastructure, we see India outpacing our projected global metrics for annual recurring revenue (ARR) and profitability. We anticipate strong growth across both commercial and public sector segments. Our R&D investments will continue to grow, as Indian organisations continue to lead the charge in next-gen cloud technologies including AI, automation, and edge computing. We expect to deepen our presence in core verticals and expand into emerging sectors.