Best eSIM for India: prices, networks and unlimited plans compared, with tips for Nepal, Sri Lanka and local SIMs

Quick answer: which India eSIM to choose

• One to two weeks, for example the Golden Triangle or Goa: an India plan with 5 to 10 GB valid for 15 or 30 days is enough for most travellers.
• Long trips or remote work: an unlimited plan with at least 2 GB a day at full speed, or a 30-day plan with 20 GB or more.
• India plus Nepal, Sri Lanka or the Maldives: check the country list carefully; many regional plans leave out at least one of them.
• Need an Indian phone number: travel eSIMs for India are data-only. For local verification codes you need an Indian SIM card.

India eSIM prices: the cheapest plan for every data amount

India is well covered: 39 providers in our database sell plans that include it, and about 1,300 of those plans are for India alone. The table shows the cheapest plan for each data amount with at least 7 days of validity, including regional and global plans:

Prices differ a lot between providers. For a 5 GB plan valid for 7 to 30 days, the typical offer costs more than three times as much as the cheapest one, so comparing pays off. Before you buy, also check:

• Validity: India trips are often longer than a week. Almost 400 India-only plans, from every provider that sells them, run for 30 days or more.
• Network: the plan card names the Indian network. Plans that can use more than one are better for rural areas and long train journeys.
• Day passes: more than 300 day passes cover India, useful for a short stopover in Delhi or Mumbai.

Prices are refreshed daily. All plans with filters for data, validity, network and 5G are on our India eSIM page, and current discounts are on our promo codes page.

Unlimited data in India: daily allowance and speed

About a third of the plans that cover India are sold as unlimited. Almost all of them include a daily allowance at full speed and then slow down. In India the allowances tend to be modest: the most common value for unlimited plans is 1 GB a day, followed by 2 GB, while about a quarter keep 3 GB a day or more. A few cheap plans allow only 500 MB a day.

The table only shows plans with at least 2 GB a day at full speed. What happens after the allowance matters just as much: around four in ten unlimited plans for India keep at least 1 Mbps, which is fine for maps, messaging and music; most of the rest drop to 256 to 512 kbps, and a few to 128 kbps, which is barely enough for text messages. Our guide Unlimited eSIM plans: how unlimited are they really? explains the rules in detail.

Airtel, Jio or Vi: which network is best?

India has four mobile networks. Travel eSIMs use three of them:

• Airtel (Bharti Airtel): by far the most common partner of travel eSIMs. Around seven in ten India-only plans in our database name Airtel, from 24 providers.
• Jio (Reliance Jio): India's largest operator by subscribers, named by about a third of the India-only plans, from 17 providers.
• Vi (Vodafone Idea): used by 16 providers, often as one of several networks a plan can switch between.
• BSNL: the state-owned operator. None of the travel eSIM plans in our database names it.

India is divided into telecom circles, roughly by state, which is why some providers list Airtel separately for each region. For you as a traveller this makes no difference: the plan works across the country. Airtel and Jio both run large 5G networks, and about seven in ten India-only plans state 5G. In cities and along the main tourist routes, coverage is good. In remote mountain areas such as Ladakh, in parts of the north-east and on islands such as the Andamans, it can be patchy; there, a plan that can use more than one network helps, and around four in ten India-only plans with network details name two or more. Download offline maps before you go.

Which plan suits your trip?

How much data you need depends on how you travel. As a rough guide for one person:

Hotels and cafés in the cities usually have WiFi, but it is not always reliable, so plan a little extra mobile data. If you are unsure, pick a provider that allows top-ups and start with the smaller size. Typical values per activity are in our guide How much data do I need for travel?

India plus Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives or a Dubai stopover

Many trips combine India with a neighbouring country or a stopover in the Gulf. Here regional plans differ more than anywhere else in Asia:

• Asia plans: fewer than a quarter of the Asia regional plans in our database include India. Do not assume that an Asia plan covers it; check the country list.
• Sri Lanka: the easiest combination. Close to 2,000 plans from 36 providers cover both, mostly Asia and global plans.
• Nepal: only around 400 plans cover India and Nepal together. A separate Nepal plan is often the better choice; almost 1,000 are on offer.
• Maldives: fewer than 70 plans include both. Buy a separate Maldives plan for that part of the trip.
• Dubai stopover: close to 1,000 plans cover India and the United Arab Emirates, mostly global ones. For a short stopover, a separate UAE plan can be simpler; see our Dubai eSIM guide.

Per gigabyte, an India-only plan is the cheapest option: Asia plans that include India cost a little more per gigabyte, and global plans more than twice as much. For a route through several Asian countries, our Asia eSIM guide compares the regional plans.

Travel eSIM or Indian SIM card? Paperwork, phone numbers and codes

You can buy an Indian prepaid SIM card at major airports and in operator shops. As a foreign visitor you need your passport, your visa and usually a passport photo, you fill in a verification form, and the SIM is often only activated hours later. A travel eSIM avoids all of that: you install it at home and have data as soon as you land.

A local SIM still has one advantage: an Indian phone number. Travel eSIMs for India are data-only; none of the India-only plans in our database include calls or SMS. That matters because some Indian apps and services, for example for payments or train tickets, send login codes by SMS to an Indian number, and public WiFi at airports and stations often asks for a phone number too. If you stay for several weeks and want to use such services, the paperwork for a local SIM can be worth it. For a normal holiday, a travel eSIM plus WhatsApp is usually enough.

How to set up your India eSIM

1. Check your phone supports eSIM and is unlocked; see Does my phone support eSIM?
2. Buy and install the eSIM at home over WiFi, a day or two before you travel. Many plans start only when they first connect in India; the plan details say when the validity begins.
3. Keep your home SIM for calls and SMS, and switch off data roaming on it.
4. After landing, turn on the travel eSIM, select it for mobile data and enable data roaming for the eSIM.
5. Test it at the airport before you leave the terminal. If you have no signal, see eSIM not working abroad.

Step-by-step instructions are in our guides for iPhone and Android.