India VPN: Get an Indian IP Address from Australia
If you have moved to Australia from India, or have family there, you already know the problem: the cricket, the films and sometimes the banking app all assume you are still in Mumbai. An India VPN gives you an Indian IP address from your lounge room in Parramatta or Point Cook. Here is which VPNs offer one, and a wrinkle about Indian servers that most lists leave out.
VPNs with servers in India
| VPN | Servers in India | Lowest price | Our speed test from Melbourne |
|---|---|---|---|
 CyberGhost | Listed | A$3.27 a month Visit CyberGhost → | 90.18 Mbps (August 2021) |
 IPVanish | Listed: 1 city | US$2.39 (about A$3.43) a month Visit IPVanish → | 43.78 Mbps (August 2021) |
 Surfshark | Listed | A$3.49 a month Visit Surfshark → | 43.55 Mbps (August 2021) |
 ExpressVPN | Listed: virtual location, routed via Singapore and UK | US$2.99 (about A$4.29) a month Visit ExpressVPN → | 63.5 Mbps (August 2021) |
 NordVPN | Listed: 1 city | A$4.79 a month Visit NordVPN → | 19.1 Mbps (August 2021) |
 Proton VPN | Listed: 1 city, 30 servers | US$3.49 (about A$5.00) a month Visit Proton VPN → | 84.64 Mbps (March 2022) |
 Astrill VPN | Listed | US$12.50 (about A$17.92) a month Visit Astrill VPN → | 27.7 Mbps (March 2022) |
 PrivateVPN | Listed | – Visit PrivateVPN → | 32.9 Mbps (August 2021) |
Server locations read from each provider's own server page on 13 Oct 2026; "listed" means the provider names India as a location, which can be a physical or a virtual server. Speeds are our own download results to a server in India on a Melbourne connection of about 100 Mbps, on the date shown. Ordered by lowest monthly price in Australian dollars.
The wrinkle: most “Indian” servers are not in India
In 2022 India introduced rules requiring VPN companies to keep records of their customers, including names and the IP addresses assigned to them, for five years. That is the opposite of a no-logs policy, so several of the large providers removed their physical servers from the country.
What they offer now is a virtual location: a server that sits somewhere else, such as Singapore or the United Kingdom, but hands you an Indian IP address. You can see this in the table. ExpressVPN, for instance, says on its own server page where its Indian locations are routed through.
For most uses this is a good thing. You get the Indian address without your details sitting on a server covered by those rules. The cost can be speed, because the route is longer than it looks.
How fast is a VPN to India from Australia?
India was the slowest or second-slowest overseas location for most of the VPNs we tested from Melbourne in 2021 and 2022, and the spread was wide. On a line of about 100 Mbps, results ranged from under 2 Mbps to about 90. The table above shows our figure for each provider next to the month we measured it. Several providers have changed how they serve India since, so use them as a guide to which ones take the route seriously.
Anything above about 10 Mbps is enough for HD video. If the Indian location is slow, try a different protocol in the app’s settings before giving up.
What Australians use an India VPN for
- Indian streaming services. Many are licensed for India only, or carry a different catalogue here. Check the service’s terms; most say the service is for use in its own country.
- Cricket. Rights are sold country by country, so what is free or included in India may sit on a different service in Australia.
- Banking and government sites. Some Indian banks and portals are wary of logins from overseas addresses.
- Calling home. If you are travelling somewhere that restricts calling apps, a VPN helps there too.
Which VPN works with a particular Indian service changes as those services update their blocks. Pick a provider with a money-back guarantee and try the thing you care about in the first week.
FAQ
Is it legal to use an India VPN in Australia?
Yes. Using a VPN is legal in Australia. See are VPNs legal in Australia?
Is there a free India VPN?
Free plans usually offer a handful of countries, and India is rarely one of them. See best free VPN in Australia for what the reputable free plans include.
I am travelling to India. Do I need a VPN there?
A VPN is useful on hotel and airport Wi-Fi anywhere. In India you would connect to an Australian server to reach Australian services; see the Australian cities each provider lists in our VPN reviews.