Microsoft announces partnerships with JustDial, PayTm and Snapdeal

Microsoft’s largest ever customer conference in India – Future Unleashed – witnessed various announcements including partnerships with multiple eCommerce sites in India, various startup initiatives and launch of Microsoft Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4 in India. Microsoft today announced a partnerships with JustDial, PayTm and Snapdeal to drive innovation in the fast-evolving e-commerce industry.

Unveiling the new cloud start-up initiative to empower the smart cities, Nadella said its one-year cloud offering in the country, which is the first kind from a multinational corporation, the company will work closely with Justdial, Paytm and Snapdeal to help others develop solutions suitable for smart cities, apart from farming, healthcare and education.

Justdial and Microsoft will explore the use of Bing and cloud-based analytics to provide and enhance customer experience.

Paytm and Microsoft are working on three core areas of partnership. The companies will integrate the Paytm app and Paytm Wallet into Cortana to enable consumers to pay for their utility bills and carry out mobile transactions easily. Paytm will use Office 365 for their merchants’ inventory and account management. Lastly, Paytm will facilitate and support Microsoft service sales via their merchant network.

Snapdeal will work with Microsoft cloud platforms to create a digital automotive dealership that is expected to change the way customers make automotive buying decisions. Snapdeal and Microsoft will use Skype, Bing and Cortana to provide new engagement platforms for Snapdeal customers.

In addition, Microsoft also said that startups can now apply for individual access up to $120,000 (Rs. 80,00,000) worth of Azure computing to help India’s smart cities explore solutions and run smart city digital pilots.