URL: https://esimgo.in/roaming/maldives/
Source: eSIM Go (esimgo.in)
Author: Nadezhda Semenova, entrepreneur, co-founder of the Trippy travel service, https://esimgo.in/author/
Updated: 13 Oct 2026

# Roaming in the Maldives from India: Airtel and Vi packs, Jio's gap, and a travel eSIM (checked 13 Oct 2026)

The international roaming Maldives answer differs by operator, and Jio users are the ones caught out: Jio sells no data pack for the Maldives, and only its Global Pack balance, spent at standard roaming rates, lists the islands. Airtel and Vi sell packs that cover a resort stay. On 13 Oct 2026 the six Airtel and Vi rows below cost ₹755 to ₹4,695, about ₹216 to ₹1,993 per GB.

## Short answer: Airtel and Vi cover the Maldives, Jio sells no data pack

For five nights, Airtel's ₹998 prepaid pack (4 GB, 5 days) fits at about ₹250 per GB. For seven nights it runs out two days early, and the ₹1,298 pack (6 GB, 10 days) fits at about ₹216 per GB. Vi's Maldives rows carry 500 MB to 3 GB. Prices as listed on 13 Oct 2026.

Calls on your Indian number come with a pack. A Maldives eSIM from India is data only: ours runs on Dhiraagu 4G, and neither a regional nor a global plan of ours lists the Maldives.

India's Ministry of Tourism counts 192,540 departures to the Maldives in 2025, down from 197,496 in 2024, about 2.5% (our calculation), and 90.63% were leisure or business trips. Separately, the Maldives tourism ministry counted 131,625 arrivals from India in 2025, as reported by Hotelier Maldives; the two counts use different methods.

We sell travel eSIMs, so we have an interest here. The table still shows when your operator pack is the better choice.

## Jio in the Maldives: the Global Pack balance only

There is no Jio Maldives pack with data. On Jio's lists the Maldives sits in none of the families with data: not the 100-country or 75-country voice-and-data packs, not the World Pack, not the data packs. It is named only for the Global Pack, sold at ₹1,101 (balance ₹933.05) or ₹1,102 (balance ₹933.90), each for 28 days with 5 ISD SMS. That balance pays standard roaming rates; it has no GB allowance, so it cannot be ranked per GB.

eSIM Go is not affiliated with Jio, Airtel, Vi or BSNL. Pack details are taken from their own pages on the date shown.

For a honeymoon week that means a Jio number can still roam, but every megabyte comes out of a balance at standard rates. If you need data on that number, plan it before you fly; Jio sells the same packs to prepaid and postpaid users, so switching plan type does not change this.

## Airtel and Vi packs for the Maldives (table)

The Airtel IR pack Maldives guests buy is Airtel's single prepaid set, sold for every covered country. Vi lists the Maldives as non-UL for iRoamFree and Ultra packs and in Budget Set 2 for Budget packs, so its data there is fixed and small. The table marks which rows last a 5-night and a 7-night stay, counting each night as one day of use.

| Pack | Price | Data | Lasts | 5 nights | 7 nights | ≈ ₹ per GB | Source, checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airtel prepaid, 150 min · 20 SMS out | ₹998 | 4 GB | 5 days | yes | no | about ₹250 | [Airtel T&C](https://assets.airtel.in/static-assets/online-recharge-ui/assets/pdf/tnc.pdf), 13 Oct 2026 |
| Airtel prepaid, 200 min · 20 SMS out | ₹1,298 | 6 GB | 10 days | yes | yes | about ₹216 | [Airtel T&C](https://assets.airtel.in/static-assets/online-recharge-ui/assets/pdf/tnc.pdf), 13 Oct 2026 |
| Vi Budget, Set 2, no voice | ₹755 | 500 MB | 5 days | yes | no | about ₹1,510 | [Vi prepaid T&C](https://www.myvi.in/content/dam/vodafoneideadigital/ir/Vi_VF_Prepaid_TnC.pdf), 13 Oct 2026 |
| Vi Ultra, non-UL, 200 min | ₹3,495 | 2 GB | 7 days | yes | yes | about ₹1,748 | [Vi prepaid T&C](https://www.myvi.in/content/dam/vodafoneideadigital/ir/Vi_VF_Prepaid_TnC.pdf), 13 Oct 2026 |
| Vi Ultra, non-UL, 300 min | ₹4,695 | 3 GB | 10 days | yes | yes | about ₹1,565 | [Vi prepaid T&C](https://www.myvi.in/content/dam/vodafoneideadigital/ir/Vi_VF_Prepaid_TnC.pdf), 13 Oct 2026 |
| Vi Budget, Set 2, 100 min | ₹1,495 | 750 MB | 15 days | yes | yes | about ₹1,993 | [Vi prepaid T&C](https://www.myvi.in/content/dam/vodafoneideadigital/ir/Vi_VF_Prepaid_TnC.pdf), 13 Oct 2026 |

<!-- visual-slot -->

Vi prints data as FREE only in its 40-country UL zone, and the Maldives is not in it. Its postpaid table does list the Maldives in Set 1, where data is also printed as FREE, but we could not confirm that this country table is current, so treat prepaid and postpaid as two different answers. Vi's IR packs are "not applicable for customers in J&K, Assam and North East", in Vi's words.

The prices shown on Airtel's FAQ page are older; its T&C dated 24 Sep 2026 list ₹998 and ₹1,298. BSNL's prepaid partner list includes the Maldives, but a partner network is not a pack.

## A 5-night and a 7-night stay: which pack or plan fits

To compare the cost per GB of international roaming Maldives packs, we rank the shortest pack from each operator that lasts the whole stay by price per GB, with Vi's FREE-data rows left out (Vi prepaid has none for the Maldives). Jio has no pack in the ranking. All ₹ per GB figures are our division of price by data, from prices listed on 13 Oct 2026.

Five nights: Airtel's ₹998 pack at about ₹250 per GB, ₹200 a day, ahead of Vi's ₹755 Budget pack at about ₹1,510 per GB with no calls. Arrival and departure days can push a stay past five days of use. Seven nights: Airtel's ₹1,298 pack at about ₹216 per GB, ₹185 a day, ahead of Vi's 7-day Ultra at about ₹1,748 per GB. Airtel has the lowest price per GB here for both stays.

<!-- visual-slot -->

Our Maldives plans are all fixed-GB: six of them, no unlimited plan, so size by nights. At 0.3 GB a day, five nights take about 1.5 GB and seven nights about 2.1 GB (our calculation): 2 GB covers five nights and falls just short of seven, 3 GB covers both. In our catalogue on 12 Oct 2026, 1 GB over 7 days costs ≈ ₹957 (12 Oct rate), 3 GB over 30 days ≈ ₹2,154 (12 Oct rate), and 5 GB over 30 days ≈ ₹3,447 (12 Oct rate), about ₹690 (US$7.20) per GB, charged US$35.99 by card. The nearest-data pairs are the 3 GB plan with Airtel's 4 GB pack and the 5 GB plan with its 6 GB pack. Your card is charged in US dollars. Your bank converts the amount at its own rate and may add a foreign-transaction (forex markup) fee. [How card payments work](/how-to-pay/).

The plan's days begin at its first connection to a network in the Maldives, so pack validity and plan days are counted differently; check both against your nights. All six plans are on the [Maldives eSIM page](/esim-maldives/), and the [Maldives SIM card guide](/international-sim/maldives/) covers a local SIM after landing: a physical Maldives SIM card from a local operator needs a free slot.

Indian bank OTPs travel as SMS to your Indian number. With our eSIM carrying the data, keep the Indian line active as the second SIM with mobile data off, and confirm SMS roaming in the Maldives with your operator. No page can guarantee that each OTP arrives; the [OTP guide](/help/keep-indian-sim-for-otp/) covers the settings.

Full refund within 30 days of purchase, as long as the eSIM has not connected to any network. If the eSIM doesn't work and it isn't your phone's fault, we refund the payment whether or not it was installed.

## How we checked these prices

Each row shows its checked on date, the day we read the operator's own document. Jio: the plan list, the Global Pack country list, and the lists of every Jio pack with data, none of which names the Maldives. Airtel: the T&C PDF dated 24 Sep 2026. Vi: the prepaid T&C PDF, whose country table is an image we copied by hand, so check the Maldives in the Vi app. Price divided by GB gives the ₹ per GB column. For international roaming Maldives coverage the lists agree on one thing: Airtel and Vi cover the islands, Jio's packs with data do not.

Updated on 13 Oct 2026: first version. Written and reviewed by Nadezhda Semenova; see the [editorial policy](/editorial-policy/). More: [Airtel roaming](/roaming/airtel/), [Vi roaming](/roaming/vi/), [Jio vs Airtel vs Vi](/roaming/jio-vs-airtel-vs-vi/) and the [international roaming hub](/roaming/).

## Sources

Read on 13 Oct 2026 (IST).

1. Jio: [plan list](https://www.jio.com/selfcare/plans/mobility/prepaid-plans-list/?category=International%20Roaming&categoryId=SW50ZXJuYXRpb25hbCBSb2FtaW5n), [Global Pack countries](https://jep-asset.akamaized.net/jio/plan/Direct_Country_and_Partner_Name_22072020.pdf), [international services](https://www.jio.com/jcms/international-services/)
2. Airtel: [IR terms dated 24 Sep 2026](https://assets.airtel.in/static-assets/online-recharge-ui/assets/pdf/tnc.pdf), [IR packs page](https://www.airtel.in/ir-packs/)
3. Vi: [prepaid IR terms](https://www.myvi.in/content/dam/vodafoneideadigital/ir/Vi_VF_Prepaid_TnC.pdf), [postpaid IR terms](https://www.myvi.in/content/dam/vodafoneideadigital/ir/Vi_Postpaid_IR_T&C.pdf)
4. BSNL: [prepaid partner countries](https://ir.bsnl.co.in/pre-paid-partner)
5. Ministry of Tourism: [2025 departures to the Maldives](https://data.tourism.gov.in/chart-data-outboundcountry/2025?country=MALDIVES); 2024 from the [India Tourism Data Compendium 2025](https://static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2025/sep/doc2025927648801.pdf)
6. [Hotelier Maldives](https://hoteliermaldives.com/?p=79517), reporting the Maldives tourism ministry's 2025 arrivals from India (secondary source)

## FAQ

### Will my Jio, Airtel or Vi SIM work in the Maldives?

With roaming switched on, yes, but mobile data needs a pack. Airtel bars prepaid data abroad without one and Vi keeps data off. A Jio user has no Maldives data pack to buy: Jio lists the Maldives only for its Global Pack balance.

### How much is the Airtel IR pack for the Maldives?

Airtel uses one prepaid set for all covered countries, the Maldives included. For a resort week the two rows that matter are ₹998 (4 GB, 5 days) and ₹1,298 (6 GB, 10 days), as listed in the T&C dated 24 Sep 2026.

### Which Jio international roaming plan covers the Maldives?

No Jio pack with data covers it. The Maldives appears only on the Global Pack list: ₹1,101 or ₹1,102 for 28 days, which gives a balance of about ₹933 spent at standard roaming rates, with no GB allowance (13 Oct 2026).

### Is a travel eSIM cheaper than roaming in the Maldives?

Check on the day you buy. On a 7-night stay Airtel's ₹1,298 pack comes to about ₹216 per GB; Vi's rows here run from about ₹1,510 to ₹1,993. Our Maldives plans are fixed-GB and charged in US dollars: compare the ≈ ₹ per GB on the plan you would pick.

### Can I get bank OTPs on my Indian number in the Maldives while using an eSIM?

Only through the Indian SIM, and no one can promise delivery. A data-only eSIM receives no SMS for your Indian number. Keep the Indian line active next to the eSIM, mobile data off, and confirm SMS roaming with your operator.