We've shipped production workloads on all three hyperscalers — for fintechs, D2C brands, healthcare platforms, and a few defence-adjacent projects. Here's the honest, vendor-neutral take for Indian startups.
AWS: the safe default
If your team has any cloud experience, it's probably AWS. The ecosystem is unmatched, hiring is easier, and Mumbai/Hyderabad regions are mature. Downsides: pricing complexity, and free credits dried up faster than the others in the last cycle.
Azure: the enterprise + Microsoft shop pick
If your buyers are CIOs at large Indian enterprises or your stack is .NET/SQL Server, Azure is a strong pick. Government tenders increasingly default to Azure. Free credits via Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub are generous (up to $150K).
GCP: the data + ML pick
BigQuery and Vertex AI are still genuinely better than the equivalents on the other two for many workloads. If you're building a data-heavy SaaS or anything ML-first, GCP pays for itself in engineer-hours saved. Region story is weaker — Delhi and Mumbai only.
Our default recommendation
Start on AWS unless you have a specific reason not to. Azure if your buyers demand it. GCP if data/ML is the core of the product. Don't multi-cloud until you have a real reason — egress fees and operational complexity will eat you alive.
India-specific notes
RBI's data localisation rules: all three are compliant if configured correctly, but AWS Mumbai has the most reference architectures. SEBI for fintechs: same story. Government-on-cloud (MeghRaj) currently favours Azure and AWS.