Expensive Customer Care On Citibank India

Activating a new Citibank card is almost impossible without calling the bank.

1. The website and app have no activation option, only blocking/unblocking ones.
2. Using the card on ATMs for pin change etc doesn't help.
3. The card doesn't work on POS devices.

The only option left is to call the bank and get it activated by customer support. This works fine except that the support 1860 number is a very expensive call. 

Even if you have free calling on your cell plan, this number gets charged about Rs 2-3 per minute.

And those support calls can go on for a while...