Published on: September 14, 2023 | By: @rprasanth_kumar | Last updated on: September 27, 2024
One of the most common questions asked by the NRI community is about their Indian mobile numbers. We often ask these questions,
- How to keep my Indian number active outside India?.
- Will i receive calls, SMS, OTP, etc. from India?.
- Should i recharge regularly?.
- Should i activate International roaming package?
So, the following article explores this topic in detail and addresses a few basic questions. For simplicity, i have only explored the prepaid option.
Table of Contents
Personally, I have an Airtel prepaid number for receiving OTPs abroad and for daily communication during my trips to India. So, I used to recharge it with cheapest monthly package but only once every 80-85 days. This kept the number active for so many years, without buying any annual packages or international roaming service.
However, this jugaad has some issues, such as
- The number can get deactivated anytime, due to insufficient balance.
- Incoming/outgoing services will stop after the expiry date.
- The monthly recharge amounts kept increasing and the total value is either same as the annual recharge or even more.
This made me to search for some reliable options and i have explained them below. They are one of the cheap and best options available.
Airtel
Monthly Recharge
- The last monthly recharge that i had used was the Rs. 148 package with 28 days validity.
- So, I had to recharge every month and this can be cumbersome.
- The validity was for 28 days only and does not cover the entire month.
- This means that we have to do 13 monthly recharges per year and we will end up paying more than the yearly recharge package. I haven’t really understood why they do it but it is clearly another way of earning more revenue for them.
Yearly Recharge (recommended)
- To keep it simple and avoid all the problems mentioned above, I chose to do an annual recharge for Rs. 1999 (1799 until June 2024) with 365 days validity.
- This assures the incoming/outgoing services during the entire year.
- Do not have to worry about our number getting deactivated.
Optional
- How to activate International Roaming for Airtel Prepaid and Postpaid SIM?
- I have not subscribed to any International Roaming package, even though it is recommended by Airtel.
- You can add it and avoid any roaming issues. But, it will cost another Rs. 3000 approximately.
Jio
- Like Airtel, it is highly recommended to use the annual plans from Jio. For example the Rs.3599 plan with 365 days validity.
- The yearly validity plans are more expensive then Airtel. However, it comes bundled with a lot more data and other value added services like Hotstar, SonyLiv, etc.
- You have to activate the International Roaming (IR) option via the MyJio App. It will be activated in a few minutes and it does not cost anything.
- A reader named Rahul Sharma shared this useful information, when he stopped receving the OTPs on his mobile number. The customer support insisted him to activate the IR. However, he did not pay anything extra, as it was only IR activation for the mobile connection.
- He did not subscribe for any specific IR plans, even though they were trying hard to sell them.
Jio also offers a more affordable plan for Rs.1899 but with only 336 days validity.
VI (Vodafone Idea)
- You can find similar annual plans with VI too. For example the Rs.3499 plan with 365 days validity.
- However, i do not have any personal experiences to share about these plans.
- If you are a VI user, please share your own experiences in the comments. This will be really helpful to other readers.
FAQ
A few questions from the Indian community in France.
- Are you able to receive OTP messages in France with this yearly package?
Ans: Yes, I receive all the OTPs from India. - Do we need to activate IR for annual ? Or first 28 days validity is enough for entire year ? And what is the best option like with wifi or without wifi. I just need to get OTPs. Ans: You can do the yearly recharge mentioned earlier.
- If you take the annual recharge, do you have to use the number regularly or just the recharge will suffice? What about International Roaming?. Ans: I do a one-time recharge for the year. This keeps the number active and i receive OTPs too. Only during my trips to India, i use the internet and calls. International roaming isn’t mandatory for Airtel but a must for Jio.
Thank you for the insightful article. I greatly appreciate your efforts and the value you’ve provided.
This is really a good post.
VI offers 1800 per year (as of Nov 2023) plan which is a good deal if you want an active Indian mobile number. It works great in Australia.
Yes it works in France as well, I generally use VI and recharge every after 84 days for about 350-500rs. By this I kept my number since 7 years and I use this number in regular mode when I visit to India once or twice a year. At the end, really a good article, thanks to Prashant for all your wonderful work.
Thanks Neel & Rupam for your kind feedback.
Now the yearly plan is 1999/- ( as of Aug 2024)
Thanks, Prasanth, for the detailed info. As this is 1 year later, kindly let know if all of the above info is still valid and on any updates. Thanks again.
Most of my articles are updated regularly with the latest information.
Thanks for the very useful info. Can you please confirm if recharging for 365 days for Airtel prepaid works in US to receive SMS,OTP and UPI.Is there any limit on these?
Not the answer I was looking for. I do not want to pay for the whole year keeping my Jio sim active while I am not in the country, because I will not be using it at all for OTPs from india, text, calling or data. What is a cheaper way of keeping it active, instead of wasting money for nothing?
Hello,
A valid recharge is required for the number to be active. Whether it’s done monthly, quarterly, yearly, etc is your choice. Without recharging, why will any telecom provider keep your SIM active?. It’s not a free service.
Thank you for the informative article.
I got a sim in August 2024. I have a prepaid package expiring on 29th January 2025.
I am getting OTPs from bank etc…
But I am unable to make calls or send SMS (which I expected as I don’t have IR).
Is it a must that you make or receive a call or send SMS to keep the number active?
Or it is enough to have a balance only? (and renew just before 29th January in my case – with 3 month or as you suggest 1 year package)
Hello Bharath,
My answers are already explained in the article, including what you are currently doing.
Hi Mr. Prasanth,
I’m also facing the same problem. In this situation, whether we have to buy a roaming package, or do you know any other solutions?
Hello Suresh,
What problem exactly?
Will 1999 plan of Airtel also help in receiving calls although I will not lift so it shouldn’t incur any charges.
Hello Kiran,
Yes, calls (charged) and SMS (incoming free) can be received. I have the same plan too. Use it here for OTPs and regular usage when traveling to India.
Thanks Prasanth, cleared my doubts. I have been recharging AT yearly pack – 1999 for past couple of years. Very informative and well written article.
Cool. Thanks for your feedback.
Hi,
On Airtel website, I tried to choose 1999Rs pre-paid package from UK. The moment I enter phone number, only IR and Flight packages are shown.
I think packages are shown based on IP address of where we are. I guess, we can get Indian packages from India only.
Hello Bharath,
I was able to recharge my number from France. Have been doing the same since many others.
Thanks Prashant.
I am doing this for 3 years. This time the website did not give the options of domestic plans on the desktop. But managed to choose a domestic plan on the Airtel App itself.
I went for 2249£ plan that gives 30GB data that will be handy when I go to India.
The 1999Rs plan has now become 1849Rs with no data.
Incase I need to receive incoming calsl on my India number is there any voip service I can use?
Hello Priya,
For receiving incoming calls, you must activate International roaming.
I am in US. I was on Airtel postpaid and on recent visit to India I switched to yearly 1999 prepaid plan. 1). I was told by airtel person that to keep the number active I need to make call at least once in 90 days. 2). Also, told to activate international roaming. Can anyone confirm if these needs to be done to keep my Airtel number active ?
Hello Nitya,
1. As long as the number is always recharged, it should be ok.
2. I have never activated International roaming & I just need OTPs when I’m outside India.
Anyway, it’s your choice to strictly follow the advice of the Airtel person or not.
I’m holding Vi postpaid connection with roaming pack activated. I’m receiving OTPs , incoming calls and outgoing calls. But I’m unable to send SMS.
Hello Ramu,
If you are unable to send SMS even with International Roaming activated, please contact Vi’s customer care.