Getting the visa seemed to me not that problematic as it turned out to be.
We applied for an employment/intern visa as this was the recommended approach for us – we got some good invitations from the NGO we wanted to work for.
For end of January we received an invitation to the Indian embassy – which ended up – in short words – humiliating. We were treated like trash begging to work in India for no money (btw. after letting us wait for 45 minutes even we had an appointment – then interviewing at the corridor) . Here some of the crazy arguments the officer from the Indian embassy told to us: