Censorship Monitor · India Last test 17 Oct 2026, 01:17 UTC

Is Telegram banned in India?

No. India blocked Telegram nationwide for a week in June 2026, over leaked exam papers, but the block ended on 22 June 2026 and Telegram works normally.

Today’s test · telegram.org

Opens

telegram.org opens normally on Jio and Airtel.

Last confirmed: 16 Oct 2026, 10:46 UTC
Tested on: Jio and Airtel

Blocked
Blocked on some networks
Turned away by the site
Opens
Not monitored

Test Telegram yourself › Everything we test in India

The official status

Telegram in India

Telegram isn’t banned in India. The government blocked it nationwide from 16 to 22 June 2026, after the NEET-UG medical entrance exam was cancelled over leaked papers, saying Telegram hadn’t stopped channels selling them. The block covered the app and its web version, and the app was pulled from app stores.

The Delhi High Court rejected Telegram’s challenge and upheld the block on 19 June 2026. It ended as planned after the re-exam, and Google Play restored the app on 23 June 2026.

There had been talk of a ban before: in August 2024, after Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France, Indian agencies were reported to be probing the app over extortion and gambling.

Get past a block

Staying private in India

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Around the world

Where else is Telegram blocked?

Telegram is blocked in 4 other countries we test.

It opens in 19 of the 23 other countries with a current result.

India

What else is blocked in India?

2 of the other 66 sites and apps we test are blocked in India.

History

Changes for Telegram in India

No confirmed changes since monitoring began on 29 Sep 2026. When a block appears or lifts, and a re-check on several machines agrees, it shows up here.

Method

How we test

Every day, test machines on Jio and Airtel home connections open telegram.org.
A failure counts only when it happens twice on the same network, while the site opens from other countries.
A change is published only after re-checks a few hours later and again the next day, on several machines per provider, confirm it. It’s dated from the first sighting.
Test machines caught getting around blocks, through a VPN or a filter-dodging tool, are set aside.
We test the website over home broadband. The app, calls and mobile networks can behave differently.

Questions

Telegram in India: questions

Does Telegram Work in India?

Yes. India blocked Telegram nationwide for a week in June 2026, over leaked exam papers, but the block ended on 22 June 2026 and Telegram works normally.

Why Did India Block Telegram in June 2026?

The NEET medical entrance exam was cancelled after questions leaked, and the government said Telegram hadn’t acted against channels selling the leaked papers. It blocked the platform until the re-exam was over, and the Delhi High Court upheld the order.

Did India Ban Telegram After Pavel Durov’s Arrest?

No. In August 2024 Indian agencies were reported to be probing Telegram over extortion and gambling, with a ban said to depend on the findings, but none followed. The only block so far was the week in June 2026.

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Cite this result

Quote or republish today’s result with a link to this page: the monitor’s data is under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0).

Source: vpnAlert Censorship Monitor, https://vpnalert.com/tools/censorship-monitor/india/telegram/

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