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.

Airtel has the strongest confirmed airport presence for foreign visitors at India's two biggest gateways, rather than there being one generic multi-operator "tourist SIM counter." Delhi IGI's own website lists an Airtel store in Terminal 3 selling new prepaid and postpaid SIMs, and 2026 traveller reports specifically place it at T3 arrivals. Mumbai CSMIA's own SIM-card page confirms an Airtel counter at Terminal 2, Level 2 Arrivals. Bangalore is deliberately left unconfirmed here — there are references to telecom services at the airport, but not strong enough current evidence of a dedicated arrivals SIM counter and its operator to state as fact. Jio and Vi aren't claimed to run official tourist counters at these airports despite appearing on some third-party lists. One caveat that matters in practice: a counter existing doesn't guarantee an immediate walk-out activation — the KYC process and how a given shift handles foreign passports can still make the experience less predictable than an eSIM bought in advance.

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.