Which VPNs work in 
India?
As of Aug 11, 2026, 7 of 10 VPNs we track are verified working in India.
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Verified working in India right now
- NordVPN (low confidence, No physical Indian servers since 2022 (CERT-In); serves India via a virtual location (hardware abroad), which affects server location, not usability. Regional caveats: J&K imposed a UT-wide 2-month VPN ban from Dec 29, 2025, and we could not confirm whether it was extended past its late-February 2026 expiry; Manipur rolling suspensions remain. On Vodafone Idea (AS55410) the nordvpn.com website is blocked, but the same block hits other VPN vendor sites and is website-level only. NordVPN was not among the VPN apps delisted from Indian app stores in the Jan 2025 MHA enforcement.)
- Surfshark (medium confidence, Connects normally, no special settings needed; India IPs come from virtual Mumbai/Delhi locations since the 2022 CERT-In exit (server location only, not in-country usability); app remains on Indian app stores; if issues on a specific ISP, vendor guidance is Camouflage Mode or OpenVPN TCP)
- ExpressVPN (medium confidence, No obfuscation or special settings needed; India locations are virtual only (via Singapore and UK) since the 2022 CERT-In pullout, which affects server location, not connectivity from inside India; app remains on Indian app stores; regional exception: Kashmir VPN crackdowns since Jan 2026)
The situation in India
India does not block VPN tunnels; it regulates providers. The 2022 CERT-In data-retention rules pushed every major provider to pull physical Indian servers (Indian IPs are served virtually now), app-store delistings have hit smaller apps like PrivadoVPN and Hide.me, and a July 2026 draft law would force local presence. On the network side, OONI shows vendor sites clean across major ISPs with one exception: PureVPN's website is DNS-blocked on Airtel and Vodafone Idea while Jio, ACT, and BSNL stay clean. The regional exception is Jammu and Kashmir, where VPN use has been banned outright since December 29, 2025. The June 2026 Telegram block triggered mass VPN adoption, the clearest evidence tunnels work fine nationwide.
Full status table for India
| VPN | Status | Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| NordVPN | working (unconfirmed since Aug 11, 2026) | low | No physical Indian servers since 2022 (CERT-In); serves India via a virtual location (hardware abroad), which affects server location, not usability. Regional caveats: J&K imposed a UT-wide 2-month VPN ban from Dec 29, 2025, and we could not confirm whether it was extended past its late-February 2026 expiry; Manipur rolling suspensions remain. On Vodafone Idea (AS55410) the nordvpn.com website is blocked, but the same block hits other VPN vendor sites and is website-level only. NordVPN was not among the VPN apps delisted from Indian app stores in the Jan 2025 MHA enforcement. |
| Surfshark | working (unconfirmed since Jul 22, 2026) | medium | Connects normally, no special settings needed; India IPs come from virtual Mumbai/Delhi locations since the 2022 CERT-In exit (server location only, not in-country usability); app remains on Indian app stores; if issues on a specific ISP, vendor guidance is Camouflage Mode or OpenVPN TCP |
| ExpressVPN | working (unconfirmed since Jul 22, 2026) | medium | No obfuscation or special settings needed; India locations are virtual only (via Singapore and UK) since the 2022 CERT-In pullout, which affects server location, not connectivity from inside India; app remains on Indian app stores; regional exception: Kashmir VPN crackdowns since Jan 2026 |
| Proton VPN | working (unconfirmed since Jul 22, 2026) | medium | Connects normally on the default setup, no obfuscation needed; no physical Indian servers since Sep 2022 (CERT-In), Smart Routing provides Indian IPs; regional exception: Jammu and Kashmir banned VPN use outright from Dec 29 2025 with 2-month extendable orders enforced via phone checks |
| Private Internet Access | working (unconfirmed since Jul 22, 2026) | medium | Connects on standard settings, no obfuscation needed for mainland India; no physical Indian servers since 2022 (virtual location only); if a mobile connection stalls, historical fallbacks are WireGuard or OpenVPN UDP on ports 8080/853/53; J and K regional restrictions excluded from this verdict |
| CyberGhost | working (unconfirmed since Jul 22, 2026) | low | No obfuscation needed; no physical Indian servers since 2022, India location is a virtual Mumbai server hosted abroad (affects getting an Indian IP, not using the VPN from inside India); not named in any MHA delisting order; stale complaints about the virtual India server are about geo-unblocking from abroad, a different issue |
| Mullvad | working (unconfirmed since Jul 22, 2026) | medium | Standard WireGuard, no obfuscation needed; no Indian servers since 2022 (users connect out to Singapore/EU); OpenVPN was removed product-wide Jan 15 2026 so WireGuard is the only protocol; not among the apps delisted from Indian app stores |
| PureVPN | degraded | medium | Tunnel itself has no reported blocking; the problem is website access: www.purevpn.com is DNS-blocked on Airtel broadband, Airtel mobile, and Vodafone Idea through Jul 21 2026 while Jio, ACT, and BSNL are clean; Airtel/Vi users cannot reach the site, download apps, or manage accounts without switching DNS or networks; virtual India servers only since the 2022 CERT-In exit |
| Windscribe | unverified | low | No nationwide block found, but no fresh in-country confirmation that the tunnel connects either. Regional caveat: J&K imposed a UT-wide 2-month VPN ban from Dec 29, 2025 (extendable), and Manipur districts have rolling suspensions that include VPN access. Windscribe was not among the VPN apps delisted from Indian app stores in the Jan 2025 MHA enforcement. |
| Astrill | unverified | low | India does not block VPN tunnels at the network level, so no special mode should be needed. Astrill is not on the MHA app-store removal list (hide.me, PrivadoVPN, Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Potato VPN were), but that enforcement trend is the risk to watch for a provider that keeps physical Indian servers under CERT-In. |
Legal status: VPN use is legal in India, but CERT-In directions issued April 28, 2022 under Section 70B of the IT Act require VPN providers to collect and retain customer records, which pushed several major providers to remove their Indian servers. (source)