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Using a VPN in India is legal, but as of October 2026 there are caveats. Since 2020, TikTok and dozens of Chinese apps have been blocked in the country, in 2025 the internet was shut down 65 times (according to Access Now), and in June 2026 Telegram was closed for a week. For a tourist from Russia in Goa, a VPN is more often needed for something else: to open Russian services and to stay connected if an app can't be downloaded from the store.
Yes. India has no law that would prohibit private individuals from using a VPN. The rules target providers, not users, but there are exceptions at the level of individual districts.
In April 2022, India's computer emergency response team CERT-In required VPN providers, cloud services and VPS operators to collect customer data (name, contacts, IP addresses, purpose of use, subscription period) and keep it for at least five years after the subscription ends. NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, Proton VPN and other no-logs services objected and pulled their physical servers out of India, continuing to serve Indian users from neighboring countries, such as Singapore (MediaNama, 03.07.2026).
There are exceptions. In Doda district in Jammu and Kashmir, on September 5, 2026, the district magistrate banned VPN use without the authorities' permission for two months; violators face criminal prosecution. Similar orders have been in effect in other districts of this union territory since May 2025, and after them police opened cases against users (MediaNama, 10.09.2026). If you're going to Kashmir rather than Goa, check the local orders.
TikTok and other Chinese apps are permanently blocked, as are betting and prediction market sites. In addition, the authorities can close an entire platform for several days, as happened with Telegram.
| Service | Status as of October 2026 | Since when |
|---|---|---|
| TikTok, WeChat, UC Browser, SHAREit and 55 more apps | Blocked | June 29, 2020 |
| Polymarket and real-money betting sites | Blocked, real-money games banned by law | 2025 online gaming law |
| Telegram | Works, but was closed for a week in June 2026 | block June 16–22, 2026 |
| Some VPN apps (Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Hide.me, PrivadoVPN) | Removed from the Indian App Store and Google Play | November 2024 — January 2025 |
The scale of blocking is growing. According to The Indian Express, as summarized by MediaNama on July 3, 2026, in 2025 the government issued more than 24,000 content blocking orders, almost twice as many as in 2024.
On June 29, 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology blocked 59 apps, including TikTok, WeChat, UC Browser and SHAREit. The official wording: the apps are "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order" (PIB press release, 29.06.2020).
The trigger was a clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley. The ban hasn't been lifted as of 2026. How TikTok works where it's unavailable we covered separately: VPN for TikTok.
Not now. On June 16, 2026, on the recommendation of the National Testing Agency, the ministry restricted Telegram until June 22 because of leaks of NEET-UG medical exam papers. The app was removed from the App Store and Google Play, and message editing in India was disabled until June 30 (MediaNama, 16.06.2026).
The Delhi High Court upheld the block. On June 23, Telegram started working again on the main operators and returned to Google Play, but at the time of publication it hadn't yet reappeared in the App Store (MediaNama, 23.06.2026). This case matters for tourists: an entire platform in India can be closed for several days without warning. What to do in such a situation is described in VPN for Telegram.
Because some VPN apps have been removed from the Indian storefronts of the App Store and Google Play. In January 2025, TechCrunch reported that at the request of the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs (I4C), more than half a dozen VPNs were removed from the stores, including Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Hide.me and PrivadoVPN. Hide.me disappeared back in November 2024 (Tom's Guide, 03.01.2025).
The removals apply to accounts tied to India. With a Russian or other foreign account the list will be different, but you shouldn't count on that during a trip. It's more reliable to install a VPN at home and check that it connects. If the app has disappeared from the store in your home country, the guide VPN disappeared from the App Store will help.
Yes, and often. According to an Access Now report from March 31, 2026, there were 65 internet shutdowns in India in 2025. In 2026 they continued: on July 20, mobile internet was cut in central Delhi during a protest at Jantar Mantar, and service was restored by night (MediaNama, 20.07.2026).
Usually mobile internet is cut in a specific area during protests, exams or unrest. A VPN won't help in that case: if there's no network, the tunnel has nothing to go through. The only way out is hotel or café Wi-Fi, if wired internet wasn't touched.
From Goa, Russian banks, Gosuslugi and marketplaces open intermittently, and the problem comes from two sides. Without a VPN, you're a foreign user to them. With a VPN, they may refuse you because of the VPN itself: since April 2026, owners of Russian resources, on instructions from the Ministry of Digital Development, restrict logins when one is detected. On April 21, 2026, vc.ru, citing ATOR, named Turkey, Egypt, Thailand and Vietnam, but the mechanism doesn't depend on the country. What it looks like using a bank as an example we covered in Sberbank Online abroad.
The reverse trap is with roaming. On May 14, 2026, Meduza explained: with a Russian SIM card, roaming traffic usually goes through the home operator (S8 Home Routing), so Roskomnadzor's blocks apply in India too (more in blocks in roaming). Over local Wi-Fi or an Indian SIM card, the same services open.
What helps:
Full breakdown: Russian services not opening abroad.
BessyConnect runs on VLESS with Reality camouflage: to filters, the traffic looks like ordinary HTTPS, so the connection is harder to tell apart from visiting an ordinary website. There are more than 100 servers and no logs. Why this matters and what your internet provider sees: does a VPN keep logs.
No required registration, no device limit, and there's a trial period.
Install the app before your flight. BessyConnect isn't in the Russian App Store, so on iPhone you need an Apple ID from another country.
What a VPN doesn't solve: it won't bring the internet back when the mobile network is cut, won't make access to betting sites legal (in India they're banned by the 2025 online gaming law, and on April 25, 2026 the ministry separately warned VPN providers about such access) and won't help you pay for anything with a Russian card. Don't use a VPN in districts where it's banned by a local order.
Do I need a VPN in India? Most often it's needed for Russian services and in case of temporary blocks like the June block of Telegram. It also protects your connection on open Wi-Fi in hotels and cafés.
Is it legal to use a VPN in India? Yes, there's no general ban. The exception is districts of Jammu and Kashmir, where local authorities have temporarily banned VPNs under threat of criminal prosecution.
Does Telegram work in India? Yes, since June 23, 2026. Before that it was blocked from June 16 to 22 because of the NEET-UG exam.
Does TikTok work in India? No. TikTok has been blocked since June 29, 2020 along with 58 other apps, and the ban hasn't been lifted.
Can I download a VPN once I'm already in India? Sometimes yes, but some VPN apps have been removed from Indian stores. It's more reliable to install and test the app before your trip.
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