Best eSIM for India

India is the one destination on this site where a visitor's eSIM cannot be issued without paperwork. Indian law requires KYC — identity verification — for every mobile connection, including eSIMs sold to foreign visitors, so you will be asked for your passport and visa details and a photograph before the profile is issued. eSIMify handles that process for you and guides you through each step, but it is not something anyone can skip. The upside is that once you are connected, India is one of the most data-dependent countries you will travel in: UPI QR codes at tea stalls, Uber and Ola, IRCTC train status, Google Maps in cities where street addresses are approximate at best.

The market is dominated by Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, with Vodafone Idea and the state-run BSNL also present. Jio and Airtel have rolled out 5G across the major cities and much of the country, and 4G reaches almost everywhere people live, including small towns and highways. The gaps are where you would expect them: high-Himalayan valleys in Ladakh, Spiti and parts of Arunachal, dense forest in the north-east, and stretches of desert road in western Rajasthan. Metro systems in Delhi and Mumbai have coverage in stations.

Both routes require KYC — a local Airtel or Jio prepaid SIM at an airport counter means a form, your passport and visa, and often a wait of some hours before it activates. The eSIM route front-loads that verification so the profile is ready when you land at Delhi (DEL), Mumbai (BOM) or Bengaluru (BLR). Home-carrier roaming skips the paperwork entirely but is the most expensive option by a wide margin.