02-07-2025
MongoDB Doubles Down on India's Database Boom
"Our focus remains on startups, late-stage digital-native businesses and enterprises. We'll continue working closely with customers to solve their data challenges," says Sachin Chawla, Vice President, India and ASEAN, MongoDB
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"India is very important for us as a market. We have almost 700 employees here. We also have an engineering team now in India, which is part of the overall MongoDB strategy," says Sachin Chawla, Vice President, India and ASEAN, MongoDB.
MongoDB's customer base in India spans early-stage startups such as RFPIO, high-growth unicorns like Zepto and Zomato, large financial institutions such as Canara HSBC Life Insurance, digital platforms like SonyLIV, and Indian ISVs including and Darwinbox.
According to Grand View Research, the Indian database management system (DBMS) market generated USD 2.5 billion in revenue in 2024 and is expected to reach USD 7.5 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.8 per cent. Interestingly, China's DBMS market stood at USD 8.7 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 19.8 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 14.6 per cent from 2025 to 2030.
Moving beyond legacy systems
Chawla says MongoDB is helping Indian enterprises move beyond legacy systems through two distinct approaches. "The first one is when customers decide to build a completely new modern application, gradually sunsetting the old legacy application," he explains. "We work closely with them to build these modern systems."
He gives the example of Tata Neu, a loyalty app that integrates over 40 Tata brands, including Taj Hotels and Tata Croma, into a single digital platform. "That entire application is built on MongoDB," he says.
"The second approach is application modernisation," Chawla adds. "Here, companies want to retain their existing application but upgrade it. Over the last two years, we've developed a methodology using AI tools and our expertise to modernise the full stack, not just the database."
Tackling myths around modern databases
Despite this fast-paced growth, Chawla points out several lingering myths in India. "A lot of customers still haven't realised that if you want to build a modern application especially one that's AI-driven you can't build it on a relational structure," he explains. "Most of the data today is unstructured and messy. So you need a database that can scale, can handle different types of data, and support modern workloads."
Another misconception Chawla observes is the belief that each use case requires a purpose-built database: one for time-series data, another for geospatial queries, and so on.
"The problem with that approach is if you have four or five different use cases, you end up managing five different databases. It becomes a nightmare in terms of management, scalability, and integration," he says.
Even those trying to move away from traditional databases often fall into the trap of viewing PostgreSQL as a modern alternative. "PostgreSQL is still relational in nature. It has the same row-and-column limitations and scalability issues." He also adds that if companies want to build a future-proof application especially one that infuses AI capabilities they need something that can handle all data types and offers native support for features like full-text search, hybrid search, and vector search.
Other NoSQL players such as Redis and Apache Cassandra also have significant traction in India. Redis sees over 12 million daily downloads and reportedly earns 60 per cent of its revenue from national database projects. Apache Cassandra holds a 14.95 per cent presence in India, with enterprise users including Infosys, Fujitsu, and Panasonic. Amazon's DynamoDB commands around 9.5 per cent of the market.
What's next for India?
MongoDB operates from Bengaluru and Gurugram and plans to deepen its presence across India.
"Our focus remains on startups, late-stage digital-native businesses (DNBs), ISVs, and enterprises. We'll continue working closely with customers to solve their data challenges," Chawla affirms.
