India today revised and reduced visa fees for tourists arriving under the highly-successful Electronic Tourist Visa (ETV) scheme, which has facilitated an almost 900 per cent jump in tourist arrivals.
The new rates, which will be applicable from November 3, have been reduced in the case of a number of countries, said a statement from Union Home Ministry.
"Government of India has decided to revise the e-Tourist Visa fee in four slabs of zero, USD 25, USD 48 and USD 60.
"Presently e-TV application fee is USD 60 and bank charge is USD 2, which is uniform for all the countries. The revision of visa fee has been done on the principle of reciprocity," it said.
The Ministry said even bank charges have been reduced from USD 2 to 2.5 per cent of the e-TV fee.
"There is no bank charge for zero visa fees," it added.
India currently offers e-TV facility to citizens of 113 countries and plans to raise it to 150 countries by March 31, 2016. Tourists under the scheme can arrive at 16 designated airports across the country after it was launched in November last year.
Out of 113 countries/territories included in the e-TV scheme, USD 60 fee has been fixed for Mozambique, Russia, Ukraine, United Kingdom and the USA.
A total of 86 countries have been put under the USD 48 fee slab. USD 25 is the fee fixed for Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka while there will be no visa fee for 19 countries: Argentina, Cook Islands, Fiji, Jamaica, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue Island, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uruguay, and Vanuatu.
"Besides reciprocating the gestures of other countries, it is expected that this revision of fee will also help in boosting tourism in the country. Since the launch of the scheme on November 27, 2014, more than 3,40,000 eTVs have been issued till now," it said.
The official website for obtaining details in this regard is https://indianvisaonline.Gov.In/visa/tvoa.Html.
