Enterprise Cloud Migration: Key Considerations for Indian Businesses

Cloud migration used to be a simple pitch: move off your servers, save money, scale on demand. For Indian enterprises today, the decision is more layered. Compliance rules have tightened. Cloud bills have grown unpredictable. And the assumption that a global hyperscaler is automatically the right fit is being questioned more often, especially by mid-size companies with real workloads and real budgets on the line. If your organisation is planning a migration, here's what actually matters before you sign a contract. Start with why you're migrating Most migrations get justified with one of three reasons: cost, scale, or compliance. Rarely all three at once, and the reason should shape the plan. If cost is the driver, look closely at your current spend. Bandwidth charges, storage tiers, and auto-scaling fees add up in ways that rarely match the sticker price teams budgeted for. If scale is the driver, the question is whether your workload actually needs the breadth a hyperscaler offers, or whether you're paying for hundreds of services you'll never touch. If compliance is the driver, data residency and audit requirements should be the first filter, not an afterthought. Data residency and compliance For Indian businesses, DPDP Act requirements, along with RBI and SEBI guidelines for regulated sectors, increasingly dictate where data can legally sit. This isn't a checkbox. It determines your shortlist of providers before pricing even enters the conversation. Confirm three things with any provider: where the datacentres physically are, whether the billing entity is India-registered, and whether the provider can produce compliance documentation on request, not just a marketing claim. A provider that can name the datacentre city and the entity name without hesitation has usually done the legwork. One that answers in generalities probably hasn't. The real cost of a migration Sticker price is the easiest number to compare and the least useful one. The real cost includes egress