Naver Partners with India’s Largest IT Services Firm TCS to Expand AI and Cloud Markets

Naver, Krafton, and Mirae Asset Announce KRW 1 Trillion Technology Investment

On the 20th (local time), at the Korea-India Business Forum held in New Delhi, India, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signing ceremony between Naver and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) took place. From left in the photo are Ryu Jin, Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries; Kim Jung-kwan, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy; Choi Soo-yeon, CEO of Naver; Ujjwal Mathur, CEO of TCS; Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry; and Anant Goenka, President of the Confederation of Indian Industry. Photo by Naver.

Naver and Krafton are set to ramp up large-scale technology investments in India, a country renowned for its abundant software (SW) talent.

On April 20 (local time), Naver announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the IT affiliate of India’s largest conglomerate, the Tata Group. This agreement establishes a strategic partnership in artificial intelligence (AI), cloud, and B2C service sectors, signaling Naver’s full-scale entry into the Indian market. Naver plans to identify opportunities for locally tailored AI and cloud businesses in India, home to a population of 1.4 billion.

India boasts a strong pool of SW and AI engineers, as well as outstanding capabilities in basic sciences, which has made it an attractive destination for many AI companies. According to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), there is an optimistic outlook that the Indian AI market, which was valued at 7.8 billion dollars last year (about 3.2% of the global market), will grow to 31.9 billion dollars by 2031. The Indian government has allocated a budget of 1.0371 trillion rupees (approximately 16.6 trillion won) over the next five years to foster a government-led AI industry and is focusing on building a comprehensive AI ecosystem spanning both the public and private sectors.

TCS, the partner Naver has chosen to strengthen its presence in the Indian market, is India’s largest IT services company. TCS provides customized IT services and consulting, particularly in AI and cloud, to banks, manufacturers, retailers, healthcare, and telecommunications companies in more than 100 countries worldwide.

Through this MOU, Naver and TCS will combine their respective strengths in AI, cloud, and B2C services to explore a wide range of business opportunities in the areas of AI transformation (AX) and digital transformation (DX), with a particular focus on the Indian market. There are high expectations that if Naver’s platform technology is organically integrated with TCS’s service ecosystem and data assets, the two companies will be able to quickly create new, highly profitable business opportunities in India. Both companies also plan to generate new business opportunities together by leveraging technical collaboration centered on AI, cloud, and B2C services.

Naver is also targeting new investment opportunities by investing in India’s fast-growing tech companies. On April 21, Naver, Krafton, and Mirae Asset held a commemorative meeting in New Delhi to mark the establishment of the "Unicorn Growth Fund (UGF)," which will have a size of up to 1 trillion won and will invest in India’s high-growth tech firms. UGF is a follow-up to the "Asia Growth Fund (AGF)," which was jointly established by Naver and Mirae Asset. Naver also plans to cooperate with Krafton, which has already entered India, to help build India’s AI ecosystem.

Choi Sooyoun, CEO of Naver, stated, "UGF will invest in high-growth tech companies in areas such as AI, fintech, and content centered on India, and will serve as a key foundation for creating strategic synergy by organically combining the core competencies of the three companies."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.