Buy your Indian SIM at the airport, before you walk out of the arrivals hall. That is the one piece of advice in this post that matters. The counters there are set up for tourists, the staff do the whole thing for you, and the plans are cheap. Once you are out in the city it is close to impossible to get a plan as a visitor. This is the second post in our series on the essentials for an India holiday. The first covered the e-Visa, the e-Arrival Card, the Air Suvidha form and what to print.
In short
- Buy a tourist SIM at the airport counter on arrival. Do not wait until the hotel.
- Have your passport, the printed e-Visa and your first hotel's address to hand. The counter needs all three.
- Tourist plans start from around £6 for 30 days with unlimited data on most plans.
- The plans do not cover calls or texts to the UK. Use WhatsApp over the data instead.
- Your phone must be unlocked. Check with your UK network before you go.
Why the airport and not the town
India's rules for registering a phone number are strict. A resident proves who they are with a national identity number. A visitor has no such number, so a high street shop usually cannot register you, or does not want the paperwork. The airport counters exist for exactly this. They are licensed to sign up foreign visitors on a passport and visa, they do it all day, and they know what the forms need.
Staff on duty will normally handle the whole set-up. They photograph your passport and visa, take your photo, put the SIM in your phone and check that data is working before you leave the counter. Most people are online before the taxi reaches the hotel. On a busy day allow a few hours for the line to come fully alive.
What to bring to the counter
- Your passport. The original, not a photo of it.
- Your e-Visa approval, printed. The counter needs to copy it, and a printout is quicker than hunting through emails on a phone with no data.
- Your first hotel's name and address. The hotel confirmation from us has it.
- A debit or credit card, or a little cash in rupees. Counters take cards, but a small cash fallback helps if the machine is down.
- A phone that is unlocked. If your handset came from a UK network on a contract it may be locked to that network. Ask them to unlock it before you travel, which is free and takes a few days.
Some counters also take a passport-sized photo of you on the spot, so there is nothing to bring for that.
What the plans give you
The tourist plans are prepaid and run for about a month. Prices start from around £6 for 30 days and most come with unlimited data, or a daily allowance well beyond what a holiday uses. Calls and texts within India are included.
What they do not include is calls or texts to the UK. Do not expect to ring home on the Indian number. Use WhatsApp, FaceTime or any other app that runs over data. They all work on the tourist plan, and WhatsApp is how India itself makes calls, so your hotel, driver and guide will be on it too.
If you are staying longer than a month, the counter can sell you a longer plan, or you can top up through the operator's app or at any phone shop once the number is registered. Topping up is easy. It is only the first registration that needs the airport.
Which operator
There are three national networks: Airtel, Jio and Vi. All three cover the cities and the main tourist routes well. For a holiday the difference is small, and the practical answer is whichever counter is open when you land. Airtel is the one with a presence at the most airports, and its Delhi counter is open around the clock.
At the airports our India holidays use most:
- Delhi. Terminal 3 arrivals has Airtel, Jio and Vi counters. Airtel is open 24 hours. The others keep roughly 5am to 11pm.
- Bengaluru. Airtel and Jio kiosks in the arrivals hall, plus a Vi booth and a multi-brand desk that sells all three.
- Kochi. Airtel has a booth right after customs in international arrivals. Jio and Vi do not have their own counters here, so Airtel is the one to look for.
Counters move and opening hours change, so treat this as a guide and look for the signs as you leave customs. If you land in the small hours and the counter is shut, the airport's free Wi-Fi gets you to the hotel, and the counter will be open when you fly on to the next city.
What about roaming from the UK
Your UK number will work in India on roaming, but India is outside every UK network's inclusive zones, so you pay a daily rate or a per-megabyte charge. Over a two-week holiday that adds up to far more than a local SIM. The sensible pattern is to switch roaming off, keep the UK SIM in the phone so you can still receive bank codes by text, and run everything else over the Indian data.
If your phone takes an eSIM you can keep the UK SIM in its slot and add the Indian one alongside it. Ask at the counter. Travel eSIMs bought online before you fly also work and need no paperwork, but they give data only, no Indian number, and cost more per day than the airport plan.
Once you are set up
- Save the Indian number somewhere. You will be asked for it by hotels and drivers.
- Put your hotel's WhatsApp number in your phone before you leave the airport. Our confirmation has it.
- If the data stops working after a day or two, it is almost always the registration still clearing. A quick call to the operator's helpline from the Indian number sorts it, and the hotel front desk will make the call with you.
Every India holiday we sell comes with a reminder of these steps. If you are unsure whether your phone is unlocked, or you land somewhere not listed here, ask us before you fly. Browse our holidays to India.
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14 October 2026