At the Great Indian Travel Bazaar in Jaipur on 5 May 2026, advisory giant EY and industry body FICCI unveiled a hard-hitting study arguing that India’s patchy visa experience is the single biggest brake on tourism growth. Despite abolishing paper arrival cards and boasting an e-Visa system, India captures just 1.5 % of global tourist arrivals. The report recommends expanding e-Visa eligibility to 240 nationalities (up from around 170 today) and introducing an ‘India One’ permit—modelled on Europe’s Schengen Area—that would allow seamless multi-state travel without having to register with local police when crossing state borders.
![EY–FICCI Report Calls for ‘India One’ Permit and 48-Hour MICE Visas to Turbo-Charge Inbound Travel]()
Amid these discussions, travellers and corporate mobility teams can already streamline much of the existing process by using a specialist agency such as VisaHQ. The firm’s India desk (https://www.visahq.com/india/) offers step-by-step digital applications, real-time status tracking and dedicated human support to troubleshoot payment glitches on the government portal, ensuring visas are secured quickly and reliably even before the proposed reforms take effect.
For business-events organisers, the document proposes a Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE) Corridor offering 48-hour visa turnaround and green-lane customs clearance for equipment. The study also urges the Finance Ministry to halve GST on premium hotel rooms from 18 % to 9 % to regain price competitiveness against Thailand and Vietnam. The findings come amid mounting complaints that the official e-Visa portal is riddled with payment-gateway errors and frequent crashes. Mobility managers have long warned that such glitches can derail last-minute executive travel and damage India’s brand as an investment destination. Although the Ministry of Tourism welcomed the report “in principle,” no implementation timeline has been set. Companies that rely on high-volume travel into India should nevertheless track these proposals closely; if enacted, they could radically simplify cross-border event planning and spur new demand for corporate meetings in Tier 2 convention centres.
Amid these discussions, travellers and corporate mobility teams can already streamline much of the existing process by using a specialist agency such as VisaHQ. The firm’s India desk (https://www.visahq.com/india/) offers step-by-step digital applications, real-time status tracking and dedicated human support to troubleshoot payment glitches on the government portal, ensuring visas are secured quickly and reliably even before the proposed reforms take effect.
For business-events organisers, the document proposes a Meetings, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions (MICE) Corridor offering 48-hour visa turnaround and green-lane customs clearance for equipment. The study also urges the Finance Ministry to halve GST on premium hotel rooms from 18 % to 9 % to regain price competitiveness against Thailand and Vietnam. The findings come amid mounting complaints that the official e-Visa portal is riddled with payment-gateway errors and frequent crashes. Mobility managers have long warned that such glitches can derail last-minute executive travel and damage India’s brand as an investment destination. Although the Ministry of Tourism welcomed the report “in principle,” no implementation timeline has been set. Companies that rely on high-volume travel into India should nevertheless track these proposals closely; if enacted, they could radically simplify cross-border event planning and spur new demand for corporate meetings in Tier 2 convention centres.
