Amazon brings Alexa+ to India, giving its voice assistant a more conversational and personal approach to daily tasks

Amazon brings Alexa+ to India with an AI-powered assistant that can understand conversations, personalise responses and help with everyday tasks.

Amazon has launched Alexa+ in India, a new version of its voice assistant designed to support more natural conversations and a wider range of everyday tasks. The company has also added features tailored to how people in India use language, entertainment, shopping and connected devices.

Alexa+ personalises recommendations and simplifies shopping with voice-based lists, tracking, comparisons, reviews, and suggestions. (Shaurya Sharma - Hindustan Times)

The new experience goes beyond responding to individual commands. It can understand context, remember preferences and help users complete tasks across supported services. Here is everything you need to know about Amazon Alexa+ in India.

Alexa+ features and capabilities

Alexa+ is designed to make interactions with the assistant feel more conversational. Users can say “Alexa” once and continue speaking naturally, switch between topics and ask follow-up questions without repeating the wake word. The assistant can also understand conversations that switch between English, Hindi and Hinglish.

Amazon has also tuned Alexa+ for Indian users. It can understand local expressions, measurements and family relationships, as well as references to Bollywood, cricket and festivals. Amazon says it will support more Indian languages in the future.

Alexa+ also works with entertainment services. These include Amazon Music, Spotify, Apple Music, JioSaavn, Prime Video and Netflix. Amazon plans to add services such as EazyDiner, Swiggy, District by Zomato, MakeMyTrip, Home Triangle and TripAdvisor.

Personalisation is another key part of the new Alexa experience. Alexa+ can remember preferences, such as dietary requirements, and use information from previous interactions to provide more relevant suggestions. It can also learn household routines and preferences over time.

Shopping is another area where Alexa+ has gained new capabilities. Users can create shopping lists, track Amazon.in orders and discover products via voice conversations. The assistant can also compare product features, summarise verified customer reviews and suggest complementary products.

Amazon says voice ordering via Amazon Now will also be supported soon, allowing users to order groceries and everyday essentials using Alexa+.

The technology behind Alexa+ uses Amazon Bedrock to connect to more than 70 large language models. These include Amazon’s own models and those from Anthropic. The system can route requests to different models depending on the task.

Amazon says its teams in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai have worked on the India-specific experience. This includes technology designed to handle Indian speech patterns, code-mixed Hinglish and diverse home environments.

Privacy controls are also available through the Alexa Privacy dashboard. Users can review interactions, listen to what Alexa heard, manage shared attachments and set voice-recording retention preferences.

Compatible Alexa devices include microphone and camera controls. Visual indicators also show when Alexa is listening.

Alexa+ availability and pricing in India

Alexa+ is available in India through Early Access on eligible Echo speakers and smart displays, Fire TV devices and the Alexa mobile app. Amazon is also bringing the experience to browsers soon.

Users can continue conversations across supported devices, allowing them to move between devices without losing the context of an ongoing interaction.

Early Access makes Alexa+ free; future access depends on a Prime membership or subscription.

Alexa+ is available free of charge during the Early Access period. After Early Access, Amazon Prime members will continue to receive access at no additional cost.

For Prime Lite, Prime Shopping Edition and non-Prime customers, Alexa+ will be available either through a standalone subscription priced at ₹2,000 per month or via a Prime plan.

Alongside Alexa+, Amazon has introduced the new Echo Show 8, Echo Show 11, Echo Dot Max and Echo Studio. These devices feature additional processing power, memory, and edge-computing capabilities to support the new assistant.