e-visa for conference delegates: Home Ministry raises concerns

Union Home Ministry has raised security concerns to the Tourism Ministry proposal to extend e-visa for conference delegates.
"The Home Ministry has raised some security concerns with the e-visa for conference. It may not get a green signal from the Home Ministry for the time being," a Tourism Ministry source said.
However, he said the online visas would soon be extended for delegates coming to India for attending meetings and exhibitions.
India has a separate category of conference visa and anybody organising a conference, especially international bodies, must get a Home Ministry clearance for the subject of the conference, the source said.

Tourism ministry had sought e-visa facility for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibition (MICE) segment to boost the tourism.
As per a latest release by International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA), more than 11,000 large-scale meetings have been organised across the world.
Globally, the MICE segment, with a 54 per cent market share, has overtaken the traditional business trips segment.
The US, Germany, Spain, the UK and France are the top five countries in the world in organising meetings.