Best eSIM for India from the UK: visiting family, long stays and keeping your UK SIM on
In short
The best eSIM for India from the UK turns on the network you already pay for. Lebara includes India in your plan; EE charges £26.50 for a 7-day pass (checked on 24 October 2026, EE price guide, 31 March 2026). Our India eSIM is £9.99 for 5 GB over 30 days, data only.
Information verified on 24 October 2026 at the official sources listed below. This is not immigration or legal advice; check GOV.UK and the official website of your destination before you travel. How we check information.
On this page
eSIM for India from £3.99 — see plans At a glance
- Purchase QR code by email · after payment
- Installation profile on your phone · up to 365 days
- Activation first network on the trip · the clock starts
Get an eSIM for India — from £3.99
This site is not affiliated with any of the networks mentioned here; we sell eSIMs. How we compare
You have four ways to stay connected in India: your UK network, a travel eSIM, a local Indian SIM or a pocket Wi-Fi. You may not need an eSIM at all. On Lebara, and on a few plans from Three, O2 and Sky, India is already included.
An India eSIM from the UK earns its place on a long stay, and ONS counts India as one. Of trips to India by residents of Great Britain in 2025, 78.5% were visits to friends and relatives, and the average visit lasted 23.0 nights (ONS Travel trends 2025).
Is roaming free in India on my UK network?
Only a few plans include it. Lebara includes India in Roam Like Home, up to 30GB (checked on 24 October 2026); Three Complete, O2 Ultimate and Sky VIP Diamond include it on those plans only. Every other plan charges by the day, the pass or the MB.
| Option | Price | What you need | Weak point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roaming on your UK network | Included on 1 of 15 UK networks, within fair use otherwise £2.00 to £84.00 a day or pass from about £1.75 per GB | Data roaming on; on some networks a pass bought before you fly | Paid passes cost more per GB than the eSIM |
| Pocket Wi-Fi router | Not verified | Collect it, keep it charged and return it | One connection for the group, only while you stay together |
| Local SIM bought on arrival | Not verified | A free SIM slot and a shop after landing | On a one-slot phone it replaces your UK SIM |
| Travel eSIM from this site | from £3.99 by card; from £1.40 per GB | An eSIM phone that is not locked to one operator | Data only: no calls or texts on your UK number |
Roaming prices as published by the 15 UK networks, checked on 24 October 2026; price per GB is our derivation (price ÷ GB). eSIM prices are in pounds at the day’s rate: your card is charged exactly that amount. This site is not affiliated with these networks; we sell eSIMs.
On Lebara, India is its own Zone 3 inside Roam Like Home, so your plan’s data works there with no daily charge, within the limits in the table. Below is roaming in India on UK networks, each row in the network’s own figures and with the plan it applies to. A network pass uses your UK allowance on your UK number; our plans are data only.
| UK network | What it charges for India | Condition | Checked on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lebara | included | up to 30GB; SIM activated in the UK first; 0.20p/MB surcharge if roaming over 120 days exceeds UK use (Lebara) | 24 October 2026 |
| Sky Mobile | £2 for 24 hours; nothing on Sky VIP Diamond | Roaming Passport Plus; starts with a call you make, a text you send or over 10MB of data; over 25GB in a billing period, £2.50/GB (Sky) | 24 October 2026 |
| EE | £5.50 for 24 hours, £26.50 for 7 days | Rest of World Zone 1 pass, pay monthly and SIM only; runs from purchase; no data without a pass | 24 October 2026 |
| Three | £8 a day; passes 3 days £17.50, 5 days £29.75, 7 days £42, 14 days £84; included on Complete | Around the World Extra; the £8 is for Lite and Lite+ joined or upgraded from 18 December 2025; up to 12GB; not on PAYG (Three Go Roam) | 24 October 2026 |
| O2 | O2 Travel £7 per 24 hours; Bolt On 1GB £9, 3GB £20, 5GB £29; included on Ultimate | Zone 2, Pay Monthly only; O2 Travel charged only on days of use, data up to 2Mbps (O2 Travel) | 24 October 2026 |
| Vodafone | £8 a day | Zone D, pay monthly from 11 August 2021 (£6 on earlier plans), per Vodafone’s roaming guide and Charges Guide (Vodafone Charges Guide) | 24 October 2026 |
| iD Mobile | 2GB for 1 day £5, 10GB for 5 days £20, 20GB for 10 days £35 | Roam Beyond add-on, added to your plan (iD) | 24 October 2026 |
| Talkmobile | 500MB for 1 day £5, 5GB for 8 days £20, 8GB for 15 days £30 | World Holiday Booster, Zone B; no data without one (Talkmobile) | 24 October 2026 |
| VOXI | 2GB for 8 days £16, 4GB for 15 days £26.60 | Global Roaming Extra with minutes and texts; counts from the day you buy it (VOXI) | 24 October 2026 |
| Lyca Mobile | 0.5GB for 7 days £5, 1.5GB for 14 days £10 | Zone 3 country pass for pay as you go, bought with top-up credit, five in 30 days at most (Lyca) | 24 October 2026 |
| giffgaff | 20p per MB, or a travel data add-on | Zone A; add-ons from £4, India’s price shown in the app only (giffgaff) | 24 October 2026 |
| SMARTY | 25p per MB | Roaming 2, from out-of-plan add-ons; with none loaded, data does not work (SMARTY price guide) | 24 October 2026 |
| Asda Mobile | £1 per MB | World Group 1 | 24 October 2026 |
| Tesco Mobile | £5 per MB | Region 4, pay monthly and pay as you go (Tesco) | 24 October 2026 |
| BT Mobile | Travel Data Pass, 500MB for 24 hours | BT’s own pages show three different prices for it, so we quote none | 24 October 2026 |
On a per-MB rate, a photo upload adds up fast: 100MB is £20 on giffgaff, £25 on SMARTY and £500 on Tesco (our arithmetic). Switch data roaming off on the UK line before you land if you are on one of those.
What “included” means on Lebara: your plan’s data, capped at 30GB, on a SIM activated in the UK. It does not promise the speed or the signal you get in Leeds. Lebara’s rate finder also lists an India add-on (2.5GB for 8 days at £5) beside the “included” line; we follow the rate finder, so a current Lebara plan needs no add-on.
eSIM for India: selected plans
The entry plan, our pick and a bigger one. “Our pick” is a mid-size plan chosen by us, not a sales ranking.
Prices are in pounds; you are charged in GBP, exactly the amount shown. The seller is registered in the United States, so your bank may apply its own rules to a payment to a seller abroad — how card payment works. It appears on your statement as JET SHARING. You pay on the secure Stripe checkout page, by card, or Apple Pay or Google Pay if Stripe shows them on your device.
What it costs per day
Plan price in pounds ÷ days, at the rate of 1 Nov. A longer plan usually costs less per day: pick by your trip length, not by the lowest daily price.
A month with family: how much data, and which plan?
For 23 nights, the average India visit, 5 GB comes to about 217MB a night and 10 GB to about 435MB (our arithmetic). Both our 30-day plans cover that stay with a week to spare, data only.
Our long-stay data plans for India, 30 days each, work out like this over 23 nights:
| Plan | Data per night over 23 nights | Data per week |
|---|---|---|
| £9.99, 5 GB, 30 days, data only | about 217MB | about 1.5 GB |
| £17.99, 10 GB, 30 days, data only | about 435MB | about 3 GB |
If WhatsApp and maps are all you need when visiting family in India, 5 GB can last. Video calls use far more, as do hotspot and tethering, so check your phone’s mobile data counter for a week at home first. The 7-day plan, £3.99 for 1 GB over 7 days, data only, suits a short trip or a top-up.
A network pass costs more as the days stack up. Our sums for 23 days with phone use every day, on plans that qualify for each price, are below.
| UK network | 23 days of use (our sum) | How |
|---|---|---|
| Lebara | nothing extra | your plan’s data, up to 30GB |
| Sky Mobile | £46 | 23 passes at £2 |
| EE | £90.50 | three 7-day passes and two 24-hour passes |
| Three | £134.75 | six 3-day passes and one 5-day pass, on Lite or Lite+ from 18 December 2025 |
| O2 | £161 | O2 Travel, 23 days at £7 |
| Vodafone | £184 | 23 days at £8 |
Sources: the network figures in the table above, checked on 24 October 2026. For Three, the 3-day pass is the smallest rate per day, so stacked 3-day passes undercut a 14-day pass; for EE, the 7-day pass beats seven 24-hour passes. These keep your number and UK allowance (Three up to 12GB, O2 Travel up to 2Mbps); our plans are data only.
An eSIM starts on first connection in India, so you can install before you travel, at home over Wi-Fi. How to install an eSIM has the steps for iPhone, Samsung and Pixel.
How we compared eSIMs for India
We recorded the lowest-priced data-only plan that each seller in our 11-seller snapshot listed for India at three sizes (checked on 24 October 2026). For 5 GB over 30 days, four sellers charged £9.72 to £17.99; ours is £9.99.
| Basket | Sellers counted | Their prices, lowest to highest | Our plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 GB, 7 days | 4 | £2.99 to £4.99 | £3.99 |
| 5 GB, 30 days | 4 | £9.72 to £17.99 | £9.99 |
| 10 GB, 30 days | 5 | £15.70 to £29.99 | £17.99 |
Source: our snapshot of seller price lists, 24 October 2026, as a UK visitor sees them. We left out sellers that show a UK visitor prices in US dollars and plans on promotion that day. Each price is for data only, with no calls or texts. Validity, network and speed rules differ by seller, so read the range as a guide, not a like-for-like price.
When you pick the best eSIM for India, the network behind a plan matters more than a pound either way. The plan data marks ours as 4G. Its catalogue entry lists VI India, while the plan notes say it operates on Jio, so we do not promise one network. India is large, and coverage in a village differs from Mumbai: check 4G/5G coverage for your family’s area on the network’s map before you buy.
Indian SIM card or travel eSIM?
India SIM card vs eSIM comes down to timing and your UK number. A local SIM comes from an Indian network under its own rules. We have not checked those rules, so we quote no price and no registration step.
Jio, 
Airtel and Vi are the names you will hear. Each sets its own terms for a visitor, so bring your passport and expect prices to vary by shop and network.
A local SIM bought on arrival means finding a shop after a long flight. In a single-SIM phone it replaces your UK SIM, which puts bank texts at risk. A travel eSIM on an eSIM-compatible phone, installed at home, connects as you land and leaves your UK SIM in place. A pocket Wi-Fi is the fourth way; we hold no prices for it.
Ask relatives in India which network works in their street before you pick.
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) travel advice for India, checked on 25 October 2026 (GOV.UK):
FCDO advises against all travel within 10km of the India-Pakistan border.
FCDO advises against all travel to the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (including Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Sonamarg, the city of Srinagar and the Jammu-Srinagar national highway), except for:
- travel by air to and from the city of Jammu
- travel within the city of Jammu
FCDO advises against all but essential travel to the state of Manipur including the capital, Imphal.
Keep your UK SIM on for bank and OTP texts
Keep your UK SIM or eSIM active in the phone. Banks send one-time passcodes by text to your UK number, and a travel eSIM has no UK number, so it receives none of them. Apple says “Dual SIM enables you to have two active phone numbers” (Apple); keeping your UK number explains the set-up.
Set it up in this order:
- Install the travel eSIM before you leave, over Wi-Fi.
- Choose the travel line for mobile data. Apple’s UK guide says “Your iPhone can use one mobile data network at a time”; on Samsung, SIM card manager lets you pick the SIM for calls, texts and data.
- Leave the UK line on for calls and texts. Your UK network still charges that line at its India rates, and Apple warns you “might still incur roaming fees from your home eSIM” (Apple, checked on 24 October 2026).
- Switch data roaming off on the UK line if your network charges per MB in India. That stops data charges, not call and text charges.
Two warnings. A pay as you go SIM left unused for months may be switched off by its network, and we hold no figure, so ask yours how long a SIM can sit idle. Check with your bank how it sends passcodes abroad, and test the login before you fly. For menu paths, data roaming settings and transfer an eSIM are the pages to use, and roaming or eSIM walks through the choice for any network.
Check before you fly
What if the eSIM doesn’t work when you land in India?
Check four settings, in this order, before you write to us.
The first is the line for mobile data. In the phone’s SIM settings, pick the travel line for mobile data; your UK line stays on for calls and texts, with its mobile data off.
The second is data roaming, for the eSIM line only. The eSIM is a foreign profile, so the phone treats India as roaming for it.
The third is the APN. On this plan it sets itself, so leave it alone; you don’t need to type one.
The fourth is a restart. Restart the phone or switch aeroplane mode on and off, and let it find Vi India; this can take a few minutes after you leave the plane.
Still no data? Write to us on WhatsApp or at support@esimworld.co.uk with your order number, or go through the no-signal checklist. Do not delete the eSIM to “try again”: a deleted profile usually cannot be installed twice from the same code. If the eSIM doesn't work and it isn't your phone's fault, we refund the payment whether or not it was installed.
What I’d choose (and when NOT to buy the eSIM)
For a week of maps, rides and messaging I’d take 1 GB for 7 days, £3.99. For two weeks or more, with photos and social media, I’d go for 5 GB for 30 days, £9.99. If you video-call and stream every day, take the unlimited plan for 7 days, £28.99, with 3 GB a day at full speed, then 1 Mbps.
I would not recommend the eSIM in three cases. If your UK plan already includes India and its fair use limit is enough for you, roaming costs you nothing extra and keeps your number (compare the networks). If your phone has no eSIM or is locked to one operator, it cannot take the plan: check your model first. And if your group travels together all day and shares one connection, a pocket Wi-Fi can cover everyone.
Frequently asked questions
Can we use eSIM in India?
Yes, if your phone takes an eSIM and is unlocked. Dial *#06#: an EID on screen means it does. Install the eSIM before you fly, over Wi-Fi, and the plan starts on first connection to a network in India.
Which SIM card is best for travelling to India?
It depends on your UK network. On Lebara, India is included in your plan, and Sky charges £2 a day. On other networks, compare your network’s India price for the days you stay with a data-only eSIM, and keep your UK SIM on for bank texts.
Can I transfer my number to an eSIM?
Not to a travel eSIM. A travel eSIM is a separate data-only line with no UK number. Your UK number stays on your UK SIM or eSIM, and a dual SIM phone runs both at once.
Sources checked: Lebara roaming rate finder · Sky: Roaming Passport Plus · EE price guide, 31 March 2026 (PDF) · Three Go Roam · O2 Travel and O2 data roaming Bolt Ons · Vodafone pay monthly Charges Guide (PDF) · iD Mobile roaming · Talkmobile World Holiday Booster · VOXI Global Roaming Extras · Lyca Mobile roaming · giffgaff roaming · SMARTY price guide (PDF) · Asda Mobile roaming · Tesco Mobile roaming · BT Mobile Travel Data Pass · FCDO: India travel advice · ONS Travel trends 2025.
Sources are linked in the text; reviewed by Nadezhda Semenova. For the terms of your own contract, check with your network.
More country guides: SIM cards and eSIMs abroad.
Unfamiliar term? See the eSIM glossary.
Get an eSIM for India, from £3.99 Pay by card in pounds. The seller is registered in the United States, so your bank may apply its own rules to a payment to a seller abroad. Install the profile at home on Wi-Fi before you fly. The QR code arrives by email after payment. See plans