Ever wondered how to pay online in India as a foreigner? It’s a tricky task, but we’ve finally found a way. Read on and learn how to pay online in India as a foreigner with Airtel and PayTM.
Update 2019: Apparently the method below doesn’t work anymore. It is still possible to create the wallet with a fake passport number, but loading money doesn’t seem to work without KYC aproval. We’d love updates from readers who have tried the below method. An Indian passport number starts with a capital letter, followed by seven random numbers. Passport numbers never start or end with a zero. Thanks to all the readers who tried and let us know.
India is increasingly embracing online payment systems and mobile wallets. Bus and train tickets can be booked online, and even small paan shops now accept cards or digital money.
This is especially useful for travelers, as it allows you to buy train and bus tickets online, saving you the hassle of standing in line at the train station or paying extra fees to travel agencies.
Why yes, you can buy this with mobile payments.
It’s not easy to pay online in India as a foreigner
Unfortunately, due to India’s archaic laws and fear of foreign-sponsored terrorism, it’s not always easy to make online payments as a foreigner.
Not all vendors allow payments with a foreign debit or credit card, for instance, and the ones who do only work erratically (I’m looking at you, IRCTC). There are also plenty of charges associated with using foreign credit cards to pay online. These can quickly add up, especially on long trips.
Are mobile wallets the answer to making payments in India as a foreigner?
So how to pay online in India as a foreigner? Online wallets seem like a great alternative to paying with debit or credit card… right?
Here’s the problem: PayTM, the country’s biggest online wallet, doesn’t allow you to charge money with a foreign card. This means that PayTM doesn’t work for foreigners. The only way to load money on a PayTM wallet as a foreigner is to have an Indian friend transfer funds with his or her local debit or credit card.
(Talk about useless.)
Unless you have Indian friends whose card you can use, you’re stuck paying extra fees to either travel agencies or your online service provider when you want to buy tickets. Or worse, if you’re like me, you’ll end up shouting at your computer because IRCTC declined your payment for the sixth time for no apparent reason.
It only took us a million tries to buy these train tickets…
Airtel makes it easy to make payments in India as a foreigner
Luckily, it’s just become easier to make online payments in India as a foreigner. India’s largest mobile provider, Airtel, has just rolled out Airtel Payments Bank, a mobile wallet of sorts.
If you have an Airtel sim card—which we recommend, as it offers good coverage at decent rates—and download the My Airtel app (Android, iOS), you automatically have an Airtel Payments Bank account linked to your mobile number.
Tip: If you’re having trouble downloading the Airtel app, try using a VPN and setting your location to India to get it to download, or download the APK file.
The great thing about the Airtel Payments Bank is that it basically gives you an online Indian debit card. The moment you deposit money in your Airtel Account, which can be done at a myriad of Airtel Stores throughout the country, you can start paying for things online using this debit card.
You can even use the card to top up PayTM, if you’d rather use the more popular mobile wallet. You can also use the money to top up your phone credit, or send credit to others regardless of carrier, which is pretty handy.
How to pay online in India as a foreigner with Airtel Money
- Get an Airtel sim card/phone number at any Airtel showroom. There’s also an Airtel stand right outside arrivals in the Delhi airport.
- Download the My Airtel app (Android, iOS). Use a VPN and set your location to India if you’re having problems finding it in the app store.
- Set up the My Airtel app.
- Register for the Airtel Money Payments Bank through the wallet icon in the top right corner of the My Airtel app. It should take less than a minute.
- Load Airtel money onto your sim card with cash. You can do this at any official Airtel store in India. Some have automatic payment machines, others you might have to convince the customer service rep to help you out.
- Use the debit card number from your Airtel Payments Bank for all your future online purchases, or to load money onto your PayTM account.
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Disclaimer: Before you start worrying, we have not sold our soul to big corporate Airtel. Nor are we associated with them in any way. The sole purpose of this article is to make it easier for foreign travelers in India to pay for things online.
Thanks! This is easier than getting my cousins to online pay for things for me 🙂 Useful info.
Absolutely. We used to ask friends to do the same, but it’s much easier if you can do it yourself.
Woo, I didn’t know it so much hassle to pay as a foreigner in India. Thanks for the detailed information. I would definitely keep this in mind once I’ll be in India.
Cash payment are easy, but online payments can be a true pain in the ass. This makes it a bit easier.
I am an Indian and because I live in the US, my Indian bank account is not active and I encounter all the issues outlined in this article. It is such a hassle to buy anything online using my US credit cards. I hate that India makes it so difficult. I hope it comes up with an alternate safe way to make transactions that are appealing to make even when not using an indian credit card. With the 2-way authentication India has now adopted, it has just gone to another level. I wish I could make utility payments for my Dad in India, but I cannot make those payments from here unfortunately.
I love you for this information! I have an Airtel sim and the app but never loaded money onto it! I never knew it had a mastercard type function. Awesome post.
Glad it’s useful. Cheers!
Sorry doesn’t work – requires an adhar card and foreigners don’t have those
You know this from experience? We’ve been paying for all our data top ups and train tickets through this method, and can assure you we don’t have an adhaar card.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/80f151869bb24563fc33913190109ebb9727b1380626d03f93a881fed5b86c7a.png
Yes, that is to get the savings account. To get the regular mobile wallet, which includes an online debit card, you don’t need an adhaar number.
I went into the Airtel storefront and they tried to add money but weren’t able to (either on the kiosk or by their computer) and so they said this was what I had to do – I will have to go back and try again – clearly they didn’t know how it worked
That’s odd. You did manage to activate the wallet? If not, the activation button is in the top right hand corner of the app, I think.
Big airtel stores have machines on which you can add money, and small stores should be able to do it, too. We haven’t had any problem adding money so far. Hope things work our for you. It should definitely be possible without an adhaar card.
Thanks for sharing. Did you register for a SIM with a foreign passport? My past 2 experiences with Airtel was that they would deactivate the SIM without notice after about 3 months, assuming you would be out of country. I can imagine having a bunch of money loaded onto my airtel wallet and then it disappearing. Also, any familiarity with the app Haptik? I was trying to find a way to load money on that app also. Evidently you can book train tickets from this app as well, but I have not used it to confirm.
India has a rule that sim cards sold to foreigners can only be active for 3 months at a time. This applies to all mobile operators. If you have a visa with a longer validity. If your visa is valid for longer than that, you can get this period extended, though. We used the same number for the 9 months we were there. However, our sim card did get deactivated after 3 months, but an Airtel customer representative was really tenacious in helping us when this happened. Your best bet is to not load too much money (we usually loaded 2000 Rs at a time), and keep good track of when you bought your sim card. We haven’t heard of Haptik.
How do you manage to put money on your wallet? When I pay cash they put money on Airtel account balance but not on wallet. I activated wallet and airtel debit card but how to top up a wallet itself?
You can ask at any Airtel store to top up you wallet account. Just tell them you want to top up Airtel Money, and they should know what to do.
You neglected to mention a couple of important points:
– There are all kinds of limits and transaction fees involved (I suggest Googling for all the sordid details)
– Unless the amount to be loaded is trivial (very less as they say in India) you are not likely to find an Airtel Payment Bank representative capable or willing to top-up money into your account.
I recently visited the largest such establishment in the city of Mysore Karnataka and tried to load 6,000 Rs to pay for a domestic flight online. Despite the agent’s best efforts in the end had to concede defeat. I contacted Airtel to seek “official” advice but so far a response has not been forthcoming..
Thanks for pointing that out.
I never had to pay any transaction fees. I usually get cashback (as they call it) when using Airtel Money. Have honestly never has a problem using this method. Mostly use it for train tickets and obviously for data top up on my phone.
I usually load 2,000 rupees at the time, and also never had a problem doing this. The most I’ve loaded at once was 4,000 and, again, no restrictions on that. Perhaps you were unlucky, or perhaps they changed the system (although I loaded 2,000 just a few days ago). Perhaps ask the Airtel representative to load 2,000 at a time, see if that works.
Thanks for sharing. Do you know if this still works? I’m trying to register, but it asks for one document (Aadhar Card/Voter ID Card/Driving License/PAN Card/Passport/NREGA Card) none of which I have. (Foreign passport won’t work)
You’re most welcome. It worked for me just three weeks ago, but Alex has been having the same problem. Perhaps they changed something during a recent update. You could try going to an Airtel store and see if they can help.
Yeah, I’ll go to Airtel store tomorrow, thanks for your help!
I’m having the same problem as Helen
Unfortunately it seems the Indian government has made linking Adhaar mandatory for these services. I will double check when I’m back in India to see if there is a way around it, but for now the only thing you can do is ask at the Airtel store if they can set it up. Not sure if that will work though, but it’s wort a shot.
I was able to do it by using a generic passport number.
Thanks for letting me know, very useful info!
so how many digits has a generic passport number?
This is all very well but I’m trying to recharge my Airtel SIM from Sri Lanka before I return to India.
The Airtel site is probably the most useless site I have visited in a long while. They say India is an up and coming nation. I won’t happen if they continue to deny international credit cards and international debit cards.
Agreed. India makes it too difficult to pay with international debit or credit cards. As for recharging your sim, there’s usually an Airtel booth at the airport, so you should be able to do it right after you land.