SIM Cards and eSIMs in India for Foreign Visitors

Which suits you depends on how long you stay and whether you need an Indian number.

• Roaming on your home plan needs nothing in India, but check your operator's rates for India before you fly.
• A travel eSIM is bought online before you leave and downloaded to your phone. Your phone has to support eSIM and must not be locked to your home operator, so check both before you rely on it.
• An Indian SIM gives you an Indian number. It is the option with paperwork, because every new mobile connection in India goes through KYC, the identity check the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) prescribes for the operators it licenses.

The DoT's digital KYC process takes place at an operator's authorised point of sale. You bring your original documents, the agent photographs them and takes a live photograph of you in the shop, and the details go into an electronic customer form. Paper forms were discontinued from 1 January 2024.

• Your documents: the forms the DoT prescribes for foreign subscribers record the passport, the visa or OCI card, the visa type and number, your current address in India and your permanent address as shown in the passport. Carry the originals of all of them, and know the address where you are staying.
• Your signature: the form is signed with a one-time password. For Indian customers it goes to a second mobile number; on 31 July 2024 the DoT made that optional for foreign nationals visiting India and allowed the operator to send the password to your email instead.
• Activation: the operator checks the form against your documents and photograph before switching the SIM on, and service starts fully only after a verification step, so do not count on a new SIM working the moment you leave the shop.
• A limit per document: an operator may issue no more than two connections a day against any one identity or address document, which matters if one passport is meant to cover a whole family's phones.

These rules are the DoT's minimum; each operator runs its own shop process on top, so ask at the counter what they need before you queue.

In 2016 the DoT allowed BSNL, the state-owned operator, to hand pre-activated prepaid SIMs to e-Visa arrivals at its own counters after immigration, a scheme proposed by the Ministry of Tourism. Those SIMs needed only a copy of the passport and e-Visa, no local reference, and could not stay valid beyond the e-Visa. Whether a counter is open at your airport on the day is something to check on arrival rather than plan around. Away from that counter, the full KYC process above applies at any operator's outlet, at the airport or in town.

The DoT's Sanchar Saathi portal (sancharsaathi.gov.in) is the official route for three problems a visitor can meet:

• A lost or stolen phone: file a police report and keep a copy, get a duplicate SIM for your Indian number from your operator, then submit the blocking form with the police report and an identity document. The handset is blocked on every Indian network within 24 hours, and the police station receives any trace. Under TRAI's rules, text messages on a replacement SIM start 24 hours after activation.
• Suspicious calls or messages: Chakshu, on the same portal, takes reports of calls and messages impersonating the police, customs, a bank or a government office, or asking for KYC or payment details.
• International calls showing an Indian number: calls arriving from abroad disguised with a +91 number can be reported there too.

Our India safety guide covers scams more widely.

Trekkers sometimes pack a satellite phone. The DoT permits satellite phones in India only with its specific permission or no-objection certificate, or as provided by BSNL under its licence for satellite services. Leave one at home unless you hold that permission.

If you are an overseas Indian or travelling with OCI cardholders, our page on money and SIM cards for NRI visitors covers UPI and payments alongside the phone. For the rest of a first trip, start with first time in India, and for paying by phone, money in India.