Cloud software giant Workday has announced major investments in India, including the establishment of its first local data centre, expansion of its sales operations, and a growing partner ecosystem to serve both global and domestic customers. The data centre is expected to be operational by the first half of 2026.
With this move, Workday aims to help Indian enterprises modernise operations while offering robust compliance with India’s evolving data sovereignty regulations. Services like Workday Human Capital Management (HCM), Financial Management, and Adaptive Planning will be deployed through Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosted within the country.
Stronger compliance and deeper localisation
The India-based data centre will support highly available and secure services, enhancing Workday’s ability to serve regulated sectors and large-scale businesses. It will allow customers to incrementally adopt services while complying with critical localisation mandates. This is expected to provide peace of mind to Indian companies handling sensitive employee and financial data.
Also read: Zoho Opens AI R&D Centre in Rural Kerala
Workday also plans to appoint a dedicated country leader to accelerate adoption and deepen engagement with Indian businesses. Simon Tate, President of Asia Pacific, noted that the investments demonstrate Workday’s long-term commitment to the region.
Growing talent and innovation footprint
Workday currently employs nearly 700 professionals in India, operating from Pune and Mumbai. It recently announced the setup of a new global capability centre (GCC) in Chennai, which will act as a strategic hub for product development and innovation, particularly in artificial intelligence.
According to Manish Dubey, Global Head of Enterprise Technology at Sagility, Workday’s solutions have been instrumental in transforming the company’s HR and finance systems, especially in managing its large workforce in India.
Workday’s strategic push into India aligns with broader digital transformation trends, as more enterprises seek flexible, scalable, and secure cloud-based platforms to navigate the evolving business landscape.
