Okay, so SMS gets used as 2FA for all those things, not somehow a primary method of creating transactions, correct?

Unfortunately, quickly looking, [1] suggests at least one of the listed services for sending arbitrarily forged SMS messages explicitly works in India, so it seems like this is still true for you. :(

[1] - https://www.usethistip.com/5-websites-to-send-anonymous-or-f...