By Kavita Mistry 
Nowadays, most people use two smartphones or a smartphone that has two SIM card slots.
It has become very common that several people use more than two SIM cards as they can be used for personal and official works.
So far, this is possible because of the cheap prepaid plans in India.
How Many SIM Cards An Individual Can Have In His Name?
Although, there is a law related to SIM cards, which prohibits people from using more of these cards or numbers which most of the people don’t know about.
This law imposes a hefty fine of Rs 2 lakh, or an individual can even face a jail sentence reportedly.
It appears that an individual can use a limited number of SIM cards in his name as per the telecom regulations.
The IT Ministry has launched a portal called ‘Sanchar Saathi’ in order to monitor this regulation.
So if you are wondering about how many SIM cards an individual can have in his name then they can simply visit the website and enter the required details.
According to this, an individual can have a maximum of nine SIM cards registered in their name and this limit can further be reduced to six for Jammu and Kashmir, Assam, and the northeastern states.
These restrictions are maintained by the Telecommunications Act, 2023.
Consider a car if an individual exceeds the given limit then he can face a fine of up to Rs 50,000 for the first violation.
Moving ahead, this fine can be increased to Rs 2 lakh for a second violation.
Punishment For Obtaining A SIM Card Using Someone Else’s Identity
Please note here that a person can face three years in prison, a fine of up to 5 million rupees, or both in such cases.
On the other hand, if someone issued a number by using your Identity then you can visit https://tafcop.sancharsaathi.gov.in/ and enter their mobile number and captcha and Log in using the OTP received.
Here, they can view all the active mobile numbers linked to their ID, Click “Not My Number” to report an unknown number, here one can select “Not Required” to deactivate an old or unused number.