San Francisco, Dec (IANS): Microsoft has announced a huge price hike of up to 11 per cent for its software and services in India due to currency fluctuations.

The company said the "Indian rupee pricelist changes to harmonise its prices for commercial on-premises software and online services between India and the Asian region, effective February 1, 2023".

"Starting February 1, 2023, Indian rupee prices for commercial on-premises software will increase by 4.5 per cent, online services will increase by 9 per cent, and Windows GGWA will increase by 11 per cent to realign close to prevailing USD pricing levels in the Asian region," said Microsoft in an official announcement.

Services such as Microsoft 365 and Dynamics 365 will appear on Microsoft's official site for direct sale to India-based customers from February 1, 2023, with revised Indian rupee prices.

For business customers, these changes will not affect existing orders under licensing agreements for products that are subject to price protection, according to the company.

However, the prices for new products added under licensing agreements and purchases under new contracts will be determined by the pricelist at the time of ordering.

"Customers across India buying online services in the Indian rupee will continue to find Microsoft cloud offerings highly competitive," said the company.

Moreover, the company mentioned that this announcement does not cover hardware (e.g., Surface) or Office and Windows consumer products.