India is to extend its Tourist Visa-On-Arrival scheme to five new airports: Goa, Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi.
Previously the VOA facility had been available only at Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports.
The Indian government allows VOA to citizens of 11 countries: Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia.
Last year, then tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahay said that the government was in the final stages of consultations to allow VOA to citizens of another 10 countries, including Germany, France and Russia.
In a separate move, the government has said it will provide group visas (officially called collective landing permits).
According to the revised procedure, foreign tourists in groups of four or more arriving by air or sea and sponsored by tourism ministry-approved Indian travel agencies are to be granted a collective landing permit for a period not exceeding 60 days.
