Amazon Brings Alexa+ to India with Hindi Beta Testing

Amazon is finally pushing Alexa+ beyond the English-speaking world, and India is next on the list. The company has started sending out emails to select customers, asking them to fill out a Hindi form by June 22 to join the beta testing program. I saw the email, and it’s pretty straightforward: “You are invited to join the Alexa+ Beta programme in India.” The goal is to refine what Alexa+ can do, with feedback from real users.

But let’s be real—beta software is beta software. The email itself warns that the assistant might give inaccurate information or mispronounce local nuances. That’s not surprising. Voice assistants have always struggled with Indian accents and code-mixed Hindi-English, which is how a lot of people actually speak. Amazon knows this, which is why they’re testing before a full launch.

Alexa+ isn’t available in India yet, and there’s no timeline for when it will be. Amazon first announced this generative AI-powered assistant back in 2025, but the rollout has been slow. It only became available to all U.S. users in February this year. Since then, they’ve expanded to the U.K., Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Italy, and Germany. India is the next logical step, given the sheer size of the market.

Amazon launched Alexa in India with English support in 2017 and added Hindi in 2019. But here’s the thing—over 600 million people speak Hindi in India, and many of them switch between Hindi and English in the same sentence. That kind of code-mixing is a nightmare for most AI models. If Amazon can get Alexa+ to handle that naturally, they’ll have a real edge. Voice is already a big deal in India for AI tools, and companies are scrambling to make assistants that people actually want to talk to.

One thing I appreciate: Amazon isn’t charging extra for Prime customers. Alexa+ is free for Prime members, while others can pay a monthly fee. That’s a smart move, especially in a price-sensitive market like India. Whether the beta actually leads to a polished product remains to be seen, but it’s good to see them taking the time to get it right rather than rushing a half-baked assistant out the door.