Talk:India/@comment-220.227.198.41-20180421113026

The description of legal requirements in the Wikia page is missing one major requirement  that prevented me from getting a sim card - despite having all documents listed on the page (the hotel letter, photo, photocopies of passport, ID with address, etc.), I effectively wasted several hours. There is a requirement to provide a name, address and phone of a local area person. It cannot be just a person from anywhere in India!!!! They will then mandatorily call that person as part of their Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedure and confirm they know you etc. Your phone will only get activated after that happens. This may be done while you wait in the store (Idea) or after you leave but prior to activation (Airtel). Airtel would then send a txt message that  they completed KYC and your number is then activated. Note that I had a local contact from the inviting company but they could not be reached by phone at the moment. I provided an alternate contact and the Idea rep. who called the alternate contact. And then it got really ridiculous: the Idea rep. virutally started threatening the person that they would take personal liability for my actions if I do anything wrong while in India! As a result, the local got discouraged. I also tried visiting the Airtel store - this time together with a co-worker on the project who is an India citizen but permanently resides in another part of India. Airtel re-confirmed the need for a local person.