Highly-placed sources said the matter is being considered by the Department of Personnel and Training.
"The government is looking into the possibility of checking on the number of foreign tours by officers. The DoPT will soon hold a meeting with Finance Ministry officials and other stake holders including state governments to take a decision on it," a source said.
All training and knowledge-sharing courses abroad are likely to face more stricter scrutiny by the government due to the high expenses involved therein, the source said.
"The matter is at a preliminary stage. The government is looking at all the possibilities to check on excess expenditures. The matter involving officials going on frequent tours has been discussed in earlier inter-departmental meetings also," the source said.
In April, the DoPT charted out a plan for 453 IAS officers working in various departments to undergo mandatory mid-career training programme within and outside the country.
Sources said over 150 officials of 1979-84 batches were undergoing month-long fifth phase of MCTP ending on November 2.
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"The idea is not to ban training abroad. But to see that the government money is better utilised. Also, the Centre is trying to find out possibilities of training officials at different facilities in the country itself," the source added.
The government has earmarked about Rs 212 crore to the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions for augmenting its training facilities and setting up of a National Centre for Good Governance among others in the Union Budget.
It is pertinent to mention that the DoPT had recently asked all government ministries to make public details of official foreign and domestic tours undertaken by ministers and senior officers.
The details will include nature of the official tour, places visited, the period, number of people included in the official delegation and total cost of such travel undertaken by a minister or senior officers.
The "suo motu" decision was taken after central government departments received frequent applications under the Right to Information Act seeking details of official tours undertaken by ministers and other officials.
However, Chief Vigilance Officers of government departments and public sector units have been kept out of the DoPT's directive.