What is NordVPN?
NordVPN is a premium Virtual Private Network (VPN) service. It is developed by Nord Security—the same parent company that operates the Saily eSIM you recently purchased. A VPN is essentially a cybersecurity tool designed to protect your online privacy, secure your internet connection, and help you bypass geographic restrictions on digital content.
How It Operates
When you browse the internet normally, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the websites you visit can see your IP address, which reveals your physical location and online activity. NordVPN acts as a secure middleman using the following mechanisms:
- Encrypted Tunneling: When you turn on NordVPN, it wraps your internet traffic in a layer of advanced encryption (AES-256). This creates a secure “tunnel” between your device and the internet, making your data unreadable to hackers, ISPs, or anyone monitoring the network (which is especially useful on public Wi-Fi).
- IP Masking: NordVPN routes your encrypted traffic through one of its thousands of remote servers located around the world. Your actual IP address is hidden and replaced by the IP address of the server you connected to.
- Bypassing Geo-blocks: If you connect to a server in the UK, websites will treat your traffic as if you are physically sitting in the UK. This allows you to access region-locked streaming libraries, news sites, or services that might otherwise be unavailable.
Is it Available in Mumbai?
Yes, you can absolutely use NordVPN in Mumbai, and it is perfectly legal to do so. However, the way it operates in India has a unique technical caveat due to recent cybersecurity laws.
The 2022 Server Shift
In 2022, the Indian government (via CERT-In) passed a directive requiring all VPN providers operating physical servers within the country to log and store user data—including names, IP addresses, and browsing timestamps—for up to five years.
Because NordVPN operates on a strict “no-logs” policy (meaning they refuse to track or store what their users do online), they chose to remove all of their physical servers from India rather than compromise their users’ privacy.
How You Use It in Mumbai Today:
- Global Access: You can comfortably use the NordVPN app on your devices in Mumbai to connect to any of their 8,000+ servers across 100+ other countries.
- Virtual Indian Servers: If you specifically need an Indian IP address (for example, to access a local Indian streaming service while traveling abroad), NordVPN provides “Virtual Servers” for India. This means you will get an Indian IP address, but the physical server hardware processing your data is securely located in a privacy-friendly country like Singapore or the UK, effectively bypassing the Indian data-logging laws.