Getting a SIM card on arrival in India

Yes, but with a real gap between being legally eligible and finding a shop that will actually process it. Airtel is the easiest option for foreign visitors — available at dedicated airport counters and official Airtel stores, with passport plus valid Indian visa accepted as ID (a hotel/accommodation address or a local reference works for address verification, per Indian Department of Telecommunications rules for foreign tourists). Small independent phone shops and kiosks are much less reliable: they may serve Indian customers fine but be unable or unwilling to complete the foreigner KYC process, and 2026 traveller reports describe exactly this problem. Jio is more complicated because its normal activation leans on Aadhaar-based eKYC, which foreign tourists don't have. A physical tourist connection is generally capped at the visa's validity and no more than three months at a time. There was also a BSNL tourist-SIM scheme tied to e-visa arrivals, but that dates to 2017 — don't assume dedicated BSNL tourist counters still operate at a given airport without checking first.

Yes. A SIM cannot simply be bought anonymously and activated the way a prepaid travel SIM can in some other countries — India requires identity/KYC registration. For a foreign tourist specifically: passport plus a valid Indian visa is accepted as proof of identity (no Aadhaar needed), the operator records the subscriber's details on a KYC form that has an explicit "Foreign" subscriber category, and for the address field a local reference (such as a tour operator) or the tourist's own hotel/accommodation address can be used. The registered connection's validity is tied to the visa's validity and capped at three months at a time even if the visa runs longer. There's also a narrower BSNL exception at some airports for e-visa arrivals, where the physical registration form can be replaced by linking the SIM electronically to the passport and e-visa — but that's a specific BSNL arrangement, not evidence that ordinary Indian SIMs are sold unregistered.

At Delhi T3 the Airtel counter is in the international arrivals hall, after customs. On 17 October 2026 it was the only SIM counter we saw there: no Jio, Vi or BSNL desk. Counter board price on 17 Oct 2026: ₹500 for 28 days, 1.5 GB/day, unlimited all-India calls. Staff said they sell both a physical SIM and an eSIM. Around 12:20 that day roughly 25 travellers were waiting and the queue looked slow, about 20 minutes by our estimate (not timed). Mumbai CSMIA's own SIM page lists an Airtel counter at Terminal 2, Level 2, in arrivals after customs. Bangalore is left unconfirmed: we have no solid current evidence of a dedicated arrivals SIM counter there.

Delhi and Mumbai differ in how well their hours are actually confirmed. Delhi IGI's own airport page, updated 12 August 2026, explicitly lists the T3 Airtel store as a "24×7 operational store" — some older travel sites claim a 10pm close, but that's outdated against the airport's current listing, so late-night and red-eye arrivals at Delhi are reasonably well covered. Mumbai CSMIA's airport page confirms the Airtel counter's location (T2, Level 2 Arrivals) but doesn't itself publish hours; a traveller who used the counter in late March 2026 specifically reports it was open through the night, which is the stronger evidence here rather than an older travel guide's claimed 6am–10pm window. Bottom line: at India's two biggest international gateways, Airtel appears to cover essentially all arrival times, making the airport physical-SIM option a genuinely credible alternative to an eSIM — the bigger uncertainty is the KYC/foreign-passport handling, not the opening hours.