Before you start

Passport and valid Indian visa
Proof of a local Ahmedabad address — a hotel or serviced-apartment letter is accepted early on
Passport photographs
An unlocked handset; confirm eSIM support at the store before relying on it

Step-by-step

1
Use a travel eSIM for the first days
A data-only eSIM bought before you fly removes the pressure of arriving without connectivity while KYC and verification run their course. It will not give you an Indian number, so it is a bridge and not a solution.
Mobile appWho: YouDay 0
2
Go to a company-owned Jio or Airtel store
Branded stores on CG Road, SG Highway or in the larger malls process foreign passport KYC as a matter of routine. Small mobile shops frequently cannot, and a SIM sold incorrectly surfaces weeks later as a deactivation.
In personWho: YouWeek 1
3
Bring more documents than the list says
Passport, visa, address proof, photographs, employer letter and your FRRO registration if you have it. Requirements vary by operator and by store manager, and a complete set avoids a second trip across the city.
In personWho: You
4
Complete tele-verification promptly
After KYC the SIM usually receives calls before it can make them. An automated verification call confirms your details, and only then do outgoing calls and data activate. This can clear in half an hour or take a day or two.
Mobile appWho: You
5
Register the number with your bank and link UPI
The number registered with your bank is the one UPI will use. Get it right the first time — changing the registered mobile number later is its own branch process.
Mobile appWho: YouWeek 2
6
Diarise the SIM's validity alongside your visa
Connections issued to foreign nationals are commonly capped to visa duration and must be re-verified when the visa is extended. People discover this when the number simply stops, taking UPI and banking one-time passwords with it.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Original passport and visa page
Proof of Ahmedabad address
Passport photograph
Employer letter, and FRRO registration where available

Things most newcomers don’t know

The friction is not the paperwork, it is the gap between buying and having a working number.

Incoming calls typically work first while outgoing calls and mobile data wait on an automated verification call. That gap can be thirty minutes or it can be two days, and it is longer for a SIM bought in the evening. Since your bank, your ride-hailing app and your food delivery all send one-time passwords to that number, the gap is genuinely disabling. Buy early in the day, at a branded store, in your first week.

Source: community-reported

Losing the number is losing your money, not just your calls.

Indian financial services are built on the mobile number: UPI is bound to it, bank one-time passwords go to it, and account alerts arrive on it. A SIM deactivated because a verification call was missed or a visa-linked validity lapsed locks you out of payments entirely. This is the strongest argument for doing it properly at an operator store rather than conveniently at a kiosk.

Source: community-reported

A local eSIM gives you no shortcut around KYC.

People assume eSIM means remote activation. A Jio or Airtel eSIM still requires the same in-person passport verification; the eSIM only removes the plastic. International travel eSIMs do work on day one but cost far more per gigabyte and never give you an Indian number, which is the thing you actually need.

Source: community-reported

Home broadband in Ahmedabad is cheap and fast, and the building decides which provider you get.

Fibre from Jio, Airtel or a local operator is inexpensive and reliable, but whether a given provider has already wired your building is the binding constraint — a society may have an exclusive arrangement with one operator. If your work depends on the connection, ask which provider serves the building before signing the tenancy, not after.

Source: community-reported