Bibhudatta Pradhan / New Delhi
The Government has notified eleven more International Ports, enabling E-visa holder foreigners to enter India. The Home Ministry said that it includes nine land ports and two airports.
This includes airports at Bhopal and Tirupati, and land ports at Attari and Agartala. The Ministry said that the addition of ports further enhances the attractiveness and utility of electronic visa.
It noted that India provides approximately 95 percent E-visas applications in less than 72 hours. With the latest addition, the total number of International Ports enabling entry of E-Visa-holder foreigners has increased to 88, including 37 airports, 38 seaports and 13 land ports.
List of International Ports, enabling entry of E-visa holder foreigners in India, as on date-
| Sl. No. | Airports | Seaports | Landports |
| Ahmedabad | Agatti | Raxaul | |
| Amritsar | Alang | Rupaidiha | |
| Bagdogra | Bedi Bandar | Darranga | |
| Bhogapuram | Bhavnagar | Jogbani | |
| Bengaluru | Calicut | Agartala (Newly Added) | |
| Bhubaneswar | Chennai | Darranga (Newly Added) | |
| Calicut | Cochin | Gede (Newly Added) | |
| Chandigarh | Cuddalore | Ghojadanga (Newly Added) | |
| Chennai | Dahej | Haridaspur (Newly Added) | |
| Cochin | Dhamra | Jaigaon (Newly Added) | |
| Coimbatore | Haldia | Dawki (Newly Added) | |
| Delhi | Hazira | Moreh (Newly Added) | |
| Gaya | Kakinada | Attari (Road) (Newly Added) | |
| Goa (Dabolim) | Ennore – Kamarajar | ||
| Goa (Mopa) | Kandla | ||
| Guwahati | Karaikal | ||
| Hyderabad | Kattupalli | ||
| Indore | Kolkata | ||
| Jaipur | Kollam | ||
| Kannur | Krishnapatnam | ||
| Kolkata | Mandvi | ||
| Lucknow | Mormugao | ||
| Madurai | Mumbai | ||
| Mangalore | Mundra | ||
| Mumbai | Nagapattinam | ||
| Nagpur | New Mangalore | ||
| Navi Mumbai | Nhava Sheva | ||
| Port Blair | Paradeep | ||
| Pune | Pipavav | ||
| Surat | Porbandar | ||
| Thiruvananthapuram | Port Blair | ||
| Trichy | Sikka | ||
| Varanasi | Tuna Tekra | ||
| Vijaywada | Tuticorin | ||
| Visakhapatnam | Vallarpadam | ||
| Bhopal (Newly Added) | Visakhapatnam | ||
| Tirupati (Newly Added) | Vizhinjam – Kovalam | ||
| Vizhinjam | |||
| Total | 37 | 38 | 13 |
E-VISA
One significant step taken to liberalize and simplify the Indian Visa regime, especially the tourist visa regime, is the introduction of the e-Visa facility. E-visa facility, with Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), was introduced in 2014 for nationals of 43 countries. This facility is presently available to nationals of 172 countries.
E-Visa is presently available under following 17 sub-categories:
| Sl. No. | Category |
| Tourist | |
| Mountaineering | |
| B-1B-2B-3 (Business Visa)B-4B-5B-6 | |
| M-1M-2 (Medical Visa)M-3M-4 | |
| S-1S-2 (Student Visa) | |
| Transit | |
| X-1 (Miscellaneous) | |
| Group Visitor Visa (Cruise) |
It is pertinent to mention that India now issues roughly 78% visas as Electronic visas.