Store (Vodafone, Airtel, whatever): Think about the normal level of mobile telco bureaucracy in Europe or the US, and then multiply that times Indian bureaucrac

Store (Vodafone, Airtel, whatever): Think about the normal level of mobile telco bureaucracy in Europe or the US, and then multiply that times Indian bureaucracy. Nobody in the store really cares if your SIM works, they just want the day to be over with. Stalls: If they don't hook you up with a working SIM, they don't make money :). They will give you an activated SIM and serve as your reference, but you do run the risk that something will go wrong in the process later. I've had my SIM disabled a week later because some document wasn't included (photo, hotel as an address, whatever). But no worries, they're so cheap you can just get a new one.