In a written reply tabled in the Lok Sabha on 5 January 2026, Tourism and Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat confirmed that India’s e-Visa programme has been expanded to 167 countries, up from 156 a year ago. The online facility now spans nine sub-categories—including e-Tourist, e-Business, e-Conference, e-Medical and the newly added e-Ayush visa—allowing eligible foreigners to complete the entire application and payment process on the IndianVisaOnline portal and receive an electronic travel authorisation by e-mail within 72 hours.
The expansion underscores New Delhi’s strategy to rebuild inbound travel after surpassing its pre-pandemic foreign tourist arrivals in 2025. It dovetails with the government’s push to disperse tourism beyond the Golden Triangle by linking remote destinations to the UDAN regional-air‐connectivity scheme; 53 UDAN routes are now dedicated to high-potential tourism circuits.
VisaHQ, an online visa and passport services platform, can help travellers navigate India's expanded e-Visa landscape. Its dedicated India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) offers clear checklists, step-by-step tutorials and live status tracking, streamlining applications for e-Tourist, e-Business, e-Conference, e-Medical and the new e-Ayush visas without the guesswork or paperwork delays that often trip up first-time users.
![India’s e-Visa platform now covers 167 countries, broadening digital access for tourists and business visitors]()
For companies, the bigger e-Visa matrix simplifies short-term assignments, sales trips and after-sales service visits. Business travellers from most major markets—including the US, EU, ASEAN, GCC and large parts of Africa—can now obtain a multiple-entry e-Business visa valid for one year without visiting an Indian consulate, provided each stay stays within 180 days. The government has also scrapped the earlier “three e-visas per calendar year” cap, giving frequent flyers more flexibility.
Travel-management firms advise corporates to keep passports valid for at least six months and to upload a professional head-shot that meets ICAO standards to avoid rejection. Because the e-Visa approval is tied to the passport number, renewals require a fresh application even if the previous e-Visa is still valid. Airlines will continue to verify the printed or digital ETA before boarding, and travellers must enter through one of 29 designated airports or five major seaports.
Looking ahead, officials from the Ministry of Electronics & IT have hinted that the e-Visa platform will migrate to India Stack’s Aadhaar-based digital-KYC rails later this year, potentially cutting processing times to under 24 hours and enabling real-time status alerts via WhatsApp. If implemented, the upgrade could make India one of the fastest large-economy visa issuers and bolster its bid to grow tourism into a USD 1-trillion sector by 2047.
The expansion underscores New Delhi’s strategy to rebuild inbound travel after surpassing its pre-pandemic foreign tourist arrivals in 2025. It dovetails with the government’s push to disperse tourism beyond the Golden Triangle by linking remote destinations to the UDAN regional-air‐connectivity scheme; 53 UDAN routes are now dedicated to high-potential tourism circuits.
VisaHQ, an online visa and passport services platform, can help travellers navigate India's expanded e-Visa landscape. Its dedicated India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) offers clear checklists, step-by-step tutorials and live status tracking, streamlining applications for e-Tourist, e-Business, e-Conference, e-Medical and the new e-Ayush visas without the guesswork or paperwork delays that often trip up first-time users.
For companies, the bigger e-Visa matrix simplifies short-term assignments, sales trips and after-sales service visits. Business travellers from most major markets—including the US, EU, ASEAN, GCC and large parts of Africa—can now obtain a multiple-entry e-Business visa valid for one year without visiting an Indian consulate, provided each stay stays within 180 days. The government has also scrapped the earlier “three e-visas per calendar year” cap, giving frequent flyers more flexibility.
Travel-management firms advise corporates to keep passports valid for at least six months and to upload a professional head-shot that meets ICAO standards to avoid rejection. Because the e-Visa approval is tied to the passport number, renewals require a fresh application even if the previous e-Visa is still valid. Airlines will continue to verify the printed or digital ETA before boarding, and travellers must enter through one of 29 designated airports or five major seaports.
Looking ahead, officials from the Ministry of Electronics & IT have hinted that the e-Visa platform will migrate to India Stack’s Aadhaar-based digital-KYC rails later this year, potentially cutting processing times to under 24 hours and enabling real-time status alerts via WhatsApp. If implemented, the upgrade could make India one of the fastest large-economy visa issuers and bolster its bid to grow tourism into a USD 1-trillion sector by 2047.
