India recorded over 30 million outbound departures in 2024, up roughly 11 percent year over year, led by the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Thailand, and Singapore, and the growth is no longer concentrated in metro cities. Non-metro cities now account for 63 percent of India's outbound travelers, driven by rising incomes and expanding passport access in cities like Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Kochi, and Amritsar. For Indian travel agencies and visa service providers sitting at the center of that outbound journey, most are still leaving eSIM revenue entirely on the table.

A travel agency booking flights and a visa service processing paperwork for the same trip are both touching the customer at the exact moment connectivity becomes relevant, before departure, when the destination is already confirmed. Neither typically sells it. The customer instead downloads a third-party eSIM app days before the flight, and the agency or visa provider that did the actual work of getting them there earns nothing from that purchase.

This guide covers how an eSIM reseller program fits into an Indian travel agency or visa service business specifically, what to configure for India's actual outbound travel patterns, and what changes for compliance when reselling to Indian consumers.

Monty Mobile's eSIM Reseller Portal gives Indian travel and visa businesses wholesale access to global coverage with a white-label storefront or API integration, no telecoms infrastructure required.

Why Visa Service Providers Are a Distinct Reseller Segment

A visa service provider is not a travel agency, and the eSIM opportunity looks different for each. A visa service processes paperwork for a specific destination country, often weeks before departure, which means the connectivity conversation can start earlier than at a travel agency's booking confirmation. A customer applying for a Schengen visa has already committed to that specific destination well before the trip itself, giving the visa provider a longer window to present the eSIM offer, not just a single post-booking moment.

The visa segment also concentrates around a narrower, more predictable set of destinations than general travel agencies do, since visa demand clusters around specific corridors: Schengen countries, the UK, the US, and the UAE dominate Indian visa service volume. A reseller program built for this segment benefits from deep, reliable coverage in a focused destination set rather than broad global coverage with gaps.

There is also a trust dimension specific to this segment. A visa service provider already handles a customer's passport, personal documents, and often financial information as part of the application process, which means the customer relationship carries a level of trust and formality a general travel booking does not. Presenting an eSIM offer through that same relationship, rather than leaving the customer to find a random app days before departure, fits naturally into a process the customer already sees as high-stakes and worth getting right.

Travel Agencies: Matching Coverage to Actual Indian Outbound Patterns

A reseller's plan catalogue should mirror where Indian travelers actually go, not a generic global list. The UAE, Saudi Arabia, the US, Thailand, and Singapore lead current outbound volume, with Southeast Asian destinations including Vietnam, the Philippines, and newer entrants like Georgia and Azerbaijan growing quickly on the back of simplified visa access and low-cost carrier routes.

Destination-based plan configuration

Configuring deep coverage and competitive pricing for this specific corridor mix delivers more conversion than broad but shallow global coverage, since the overwhelming majority of an Indian travel agency's customers will book into a relatively concentrated set of destinations.

Non-metro market reach

With non-metro cities now the majority of India's outbound travel growth, agencies operating outside Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru represent a meaningful and still-underserved reseller opportunity, particularly for a white-label product that lets a smaller regional agency present the offer under its own established local brand.

Low-cost carrier booking patterns

Low-cost carriers account for a large share of bookings on leisure routes such as the Maldives and Thailand, and customers booking through this channel tend to be more price-sensitive on ancillaries generally, which makes a clearly priced, well-explained eSIM add-on more important than an assumed impulse purchase. A rushed or unclear offer at this price point is more likely to be skipped than one presented with a simple, upfront cost comparison against buying data on arrival.

Digital Wallets and Fintechs Serving Outbound Indian Travelers

Indian fintechs offering forex cards or travel-focused financial products can embed eSIM the same way wallets do in other markets: native in-app activation tied to the customer's existing account, no redirect to a third-party storefront. The mechanism is identical to what works globally; the differentiator in India is pairing the eSIM offer with the same trip that triggers a forex card load or travel insurance purchase, capturing multiple travel-related transactions in one product moment instead of losing each to a separate provider.

This bundling logic is worth building deliberately rather than leaving to chance. A forex card load, a travel insurance purchase, and an eSIM activation are all triggered by the same underlying event, a confirmed international trip, and a fintech that surfaces all three at once converts more of that moment than one that treats them as separate, unrelated product lines a customer has to discover independently.

Deployment Example: Regional Travel Agency Network Adding eSIM Across Non-Metro Branches

A travel agency network with branches across several non-metro Indian cities, processing outbound bookings primarily to the UAE, Southeast Asia, and Europe, wanted to add eSIM as a branch-level product without requiring individual branches to manage separate vendor relationships.

The head office configured a centralized plan catalogue through a white-label reseller portal, covering the network's top 12 destination markets, with each branch presenting the offer under the network's existing regional brand rather than a new, unfamiliar name.

Centralizing the plan catalogue at head office, rather than letting each branch negotiate its own arrangement, also gave the network consistent pricing and a single point of contact for support escalations, a meaningful advantage once a dozen branches are each fielding occasional customer questions about an unfamiliar product.

Branches integrated the offer into their existing in-person booking process, presenting it alongside visa and insurance add-ons at the point of ticket confirmation. Over the first two booking seasons, the network reported meaningful incremental revenue per booking from the eSIM add-on, with adoption strongest in branches that trained staff to present it as part of a standard pre-departure checklist rather than an optional afterthought.

Note: This is an anonymized deployment scenario based on typical implementation outcomes. Specific results vary by implementation, audience quality, and market conditions.

Compliance Requirements for eSIM Resale to Indian Consumers

Getting Started: eSIM Reseller Program for Indian Travel and Visa Businesses

1. Configure coverage around actual outbound patterns. Prioritize deep coverage in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the US, Southeast Asia, and Europe over broad, shallow global coverage.

2. Choose white-label for brand-conscious agencies. Regional and non-metro agencies with established local trust benefit most from presenting the eSIM offer under their own brand rather than a third party's.

3. Time the offer to the business type. Visa service providers can introduce the eSIM offer earlier, at application time, while travel agencies typically see the strongest response at booking confirmation

4. Separate consent and billing from other travel products. Keep eSIM consent, pricing, and GST treatment distinct from visa fees, insurance, and forex products bundled into the same booking.

Contact Monty Mobile's reseller team for wholesale pricing and a coverage assessment matched to your agency's actual outbound destination mix.

About the Author

Daniel Dib is Senior Brand Manager at Monty Mobile, a global telecom solutions provider with 25+ years of MNO relationships across 120+ countries. He leads go-to-market strategy and content across Monty Mobile's CPaaS, A2P Wholesale SMS, and Travel eSIM product lines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a visa service provider sell eSIM connectivity without becoming a telecoms operator?

Yes. A visa service provider operating as an eSIM reseller purchases connectivity wholesale from a licensed infrastructure provider and resells it under its own brand, without operating any network infrastructure itself or needing a separate telecoms license for this purpose.

Which destinations should an Indian travel agency prioritize in its eSIM plan catalogue?

Current outbound volume concentrates in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Thailand, and Singapore, with fast-growing demand for Southeast Asian and select emerging destinations such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Configure deep coverage in these markets before expanding broadly.

Should a visa service provider present the eSIM offer at application time or closer to departure?

Application time gives a longer window and a captive, destination-committed audience, since the customer has already chosen the specific country. A reminder closer to departure, mirroring how travel agencies use pre-departure messaging, can improve activation among customers who did not purchase at application.

What consent is required to sell eSIM alongside visa or travel booking services in India?

Consent for eSIM purchase and activation should be captured separately from general travel or visa service consent, meeting the DPDP Act's standard for clear, informed, purpose-specific consent, rather than relying on a single bundled consent covering all services in the transaction.