UDP checks from India send a probe packet from the Google LLC node in New Delhi and record whether a response was received. India's internet infrastructure has grown rapidly but UDP traffic management varies by carrier — some Indian ISPs apply aggressive QoS shaping to UDP traffic, particularly on mobile networks. Testing from the Google LLC node, which is a datacenter network rather than a mobile or residential ISP, gives a more favorable result than what end users on mobile connections might actually experience.

DNS server operators who have authoritative or recursive resolvers targeting Indian users should test UDP port 53 reachability from this node. NIXI's presence in Delhi means that DNS traffic from Indian resolvers can be served locally for well-peered content providers. A successful UDP DNS response from the India node confirms the resolver is reachable from the Delhi network, though mobile ISP UDP path quality to the same resolver may differ.

VPN and game server operators should note that India has historically applied selective blocking to certain VPN endpoints, primarily affecting consumer ISPs rather than datacenter networks like AS396982. A UDP probe that succeeds from this node does not guarantee that an end user on Jio or Airtel mobile can reach the same endpoint — those networks may apply additional filtering that Google's datacenter ASN is not subject to. For thorough India coverage, supplementing this test with a node on a residential or mobile ASN is advisable.

India has one of the largest internet user populations in the world, estimated at over 800 million active users — the second largest national user base after China. Despite this scale, the internet exchange ecosystem is less developed than in comparable markets. NIXI (National Internet Exchange of India) operates at multiple cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru. However, a significant share of intra-India traffic historically transited through Singapore or other international points rather than exchanging domestically, driving up latency for purely Indian inter-ISP traffic.

Mumbai is the primary international internet gateway for India. Multiple submarine cable systems land in Mumbai and Chennai: SEA-ME-WE 4, SEA-ME-WE 5, EIG (Europe India Gateway), IMEWE (India-Middle East-Western Europe), and SAFE all have Indian landing points. Mumbai's cable infrastructure makes it the natural aggregation point for India's international connectivity. Delhi is connected to the international layer via long-haul domestic fibre from Mumbai, adding 10–15 ms of intra-India latency for Delhi-originated traffic to reach submarine cable systems.

Our probe node in India runs on AS396982 (Google LLC) in New Delhi. Google operates significant Cloud infrastructure in India, with regions in Mumbai and Delhi. AS396982 is Google's primary infrastructure ASN globally, meaning this node benefits from Google's private backbone for inter-PoP communication. Reference RTTs from this node: New Delhi to Mumbai ~30 ms, to Singapore ~60 ms, to Hong Kong ~80 ms, to London ~150 ms, to Frankfurt ~155 ms, to New York ~215 ms.

Domestic carriers serving India include Jio (AS55836), Airtel (AS9498), Vodafone Idea, BSNL (AS9829), and Tata Communications (AS6453). Jio and Airtel together serve the majority of mobile internet users. Tata Communications operates one of the largest submarine cable networks globally and provides transit to many Indian ISPs and international carriers peering into India. DE-CIX Mumbai, launched in 2023, adds a new neutral peering point in the financial capital alongside NIXI Mumbai and Mumbai-IX.

Testing from the New Delhi node provides visibility into North Indian network conditions. India is a geographically large country — a result from Delhi does not represent Mumbai or Chennai, which have direct submarine cable access and consequently lower international latency. For comprehensive India coverage, supplementing Delhi tests with a Mumbai-based node is advisable. The Delhi node is most representative for users in North India, Pakistan border regions, and Central Asian traffic that enters India from the north.