MHA's consultative committee to discuss visa schemes

India's policy to grant visa online and other related issues will be discussed threadbare at a meeting of a consultative committee of the Home Ministry to be held in Kochi on Friday, an official said.

To be chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, the meeting will discuss various aspects of the Home Ministry's foreigners division that deals with e-visa scheme, integrated online visa system under the immigration, visa, foreigners registration and tracking (IVFRT) project.

There will be detailed discussions on all issues related to the foreigners division, a ministry official said.

The government has earned Rs 1,400 crore as revenue from the highly successful e-visa scheme, offered to citizens of 163 countries visiting India as tourists, since its launch in 2014. To implement the project, the government had spent just Rs 378 crore.

The popular e-visa scheme was availed by 19 lakh tourists in 2017 and it is expected that more than 25 lakh tourists will avail the facility in 2018.

The e-visa fees are divided into four slabs of zero, USD 25, USD 50 and USD 75 which were fixed on reciprocity and depending on nationality.

The IVFRT project has been operationalised in 163 out of 178 Indian Missions abroad.