Microsoft announced Puneet Chandok’s appointment as Corporate Vice President of Microsoft India and South Asia. Effective September 1, 2023, he will assume the operational responsibilities from Anant Maheshwari.
Puneet joins Microsoft from AWS where he served as President for India and South Asia for over four years. His exit from AWS was first reported by TechCrunch in June. His predecessor Anant Maheshwari, who served as Microsoft India President for seven years, was confirmed to have resigned from the company on the 7th of July.
Puneet will oversee the integration of Microsoft’s businesses across South Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, further boosting the company’s presence in the region, while deepening its focus on key industries through a customer-centric approach with generative AI at its core.
Commenting on his appointment, Puneet Chandok said, “I am inspired by Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As India expands its own digital public infrastructure, I believe that this mission is more relevant here than ever before, and I am thrilled to be joining the One Microsoft team to make this mission a reality.”
Anant, in a heartfelt note on LinkedIn, wrote, “… After 7 years, inspired with growth mindset, it’s time for me to move forward… to a different industry, a new geography & a broader role. More details on this soon. But at this point, the one emotion that fills me is #GRATITUDE for everyone who made the last 7 years a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Puneet’s appointment comes at a time of continued market expansion for Microsoft. With the largest partner ecosystem globally, including a 17,000 strong network in India generating high cloud revenue, and new investments in local infrastructure including the intent to establish a new data center in Hyderabad, Microsoft’s growth aligns with India’s emergence as a global innovation hub, the company stated.
Prior to AWS, Puneet was a Partner at McKinsey in India and Asia, and also held senior regional and global roles in IBM. Puneet holds a master’s in business administration (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, a bachelor’s degree in commerce, and diplomas in Computer Programming, Networking, and High-level Computer Systems.
