India even with its rich heritage and varied geography, used to record far fewer footfalls than smaller countries like Malaysia as there were entry restrictions due to concerns of terrorists sneaking into the country on tourist visas. Travellers had to queue up at Indian consulates abroad for long and with uncertainty under the earlier visa regime.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had been opposing the scheme on security grounds. The Ministry of External Affairs too had its reservations.

Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi said the new scheme will encourage more tourists to visit India. It is estimated that the revenue from tourist business will go up by about 50 % in the next four years.

According to Planning Minister Rajeev Shukla, the electronic visa-on-arrival would be available at 26 major airports in India and would be valid for 30 days from the date of the tourist's arrival in India. The government will also set up a website to enable tourists to apply early for the visa and pay the fee online so that the travellers can collect them on the spot upon arival easily at any Indian airport.

The new extended scheme, however, does not cover tourists from eight 'prior reference' countries. These eight countries are Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria and Sri lanka.

The new scheme will take effect from coming October once the administrative procedures are in place.

Currently, tourists from 11 countries can avail the visa-on-arrival facility in India. The countries are: Japan, Cambodia, Finland, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos, New Zealand, Singapore, Luxembourg.

Citizens of Nepal and Bhutan do not require visa to enter India.

According to an earlier decision, the visa-on-arrival facility was to be extended to tourists from 40 more countries. They were: Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Oman , Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.

Recently, India had signed a memorandum with Japan to boost bilateral cooperation in the tourism sector like travel fairs and exhibitions as also to streamline and simplify the procedures for travel to each other's country.

At present, the validity of an Indian tourist visa is six months with multiple entries starting from the date of issue. For engaging in any other activity like joining yoga class, doing petty business, attending short courses, etc. after entering India on tourist visa one needs to apply for appropriate visa before landing in India. Now with visa-on-arrival other procedures have been simplified for tourists, as also the requirememt of various documents.

-RM Nair