Will I get a free SIM card if I fly from a non-Indian location to Hyderabad (Telangana, India) with a layover at Delhi?

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Accepted answer

The said scheme has been discontinued from July 2018 so you will not receive a SIM card.

Source is a news report in Times of India and Hindustan Times dated 9-Jul-2018

A scheme to provide free SIM cards to foreign tourists arriving in India to help meet their communication needs has been “discontinued” as it was felt “unnecessary”, tourism secretary Rashmi Verma said on Monday.

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This article from toomanyadapters.com contains a great deal of the author's experience and advice. Some of the significant take-aways from the text are these:

  • India is by far the cheapest country I have ever traveled in, but its also one of the toughest. This goes for the SIM card market as well. Prices are cheap, but to get one involves an awful lot of bureaucracy.

  • Consider Vodafone, Airtel and !dea, but the best cell provider depends on where in the country you’re going.

  • All listed networks offer both prepaid and postpaid, and none do contracts. Prepaid is best unless you have an extended stay. A tourist SIM is only valid for three months, and the postpaid plans require a three month commitment to start with.

  • Before I came to India, I heard it was difficult to get a SIM card. All I can add to that is: it was even harder than I imagined. I ended up buying cards from two of the major networks, Airtel and !dea, and had very different experiences with each purchase. It had more to do with where I bought the card, and not so much about which network I chose.

  • Neither cards nor top ups are sold at Indian airports. I passed through eight of them, and none sold SIM cards. I did find a Samsung store in Mumbai airport that sold phones, but even they couldn’t sell SIM cards with them. Instead, you can buy from official carrier stores, or one of the many smaller shops licensed to sell the network’s products.

  • For the Airtel SIM, I went to one of the larger branded stores. The sales person who talked to me flatly refused to sell me a card, saying I needed to have a local resident buy it for me. Fortunately I was staying in Vadodara with a local Indian friend who was willing to help out. He had to provide his passport, an extra passport photo, proof of local address, his current valid phone number, and his father’s name.

  • Buying the !dea SIM was much easier, although slightly more expensive...I had to supply my passport, an extra passport sized photo and the name of the hostel where I was staying. I waited 48 hours for the SIM to be active. Once the waiting period was up I returned to the store, they called a number using their phone, and within 20 minutes my card was active on their network.

  • One thing to watch for with smaller stores is being sold a SIM that is already active. This means it’s used, and you’ll have no idea when the three month tourist limit will be up. I heard of people buying cards like these, and within a week it expired. They were unable to retrieve any of their credit.

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