New e-visa rules are on the cards for India

The Indian government is looking to bring about some changes to its e-visa programme. The new programme is going to cover more than 160 countries, and is mainly going to make the e-visa programme a lot more visitor-friendly than it currently is.
According to reports, Prahlad Patel, the Union Minister of Culture and Tourism said, “A more flexible e-tourist visa rule might come into play. This will include a surge in the fee for the peak season of July to March and a fall in it for the off-season which is a more lean period from April to June.”

The new proposal suggests that 10 USD would henceforth be charged during the months of April to June (lean period), and this will be done for a 30-day e-tourist visa, and 25 USD for 30 days during July to March (peak season). Also, a 5-year e-visa plan is set to get introduced and will cost about 80 USD; while for one year, the fee is going to be 40 USD. For Japan, Singapore, and Sri Lanka, the e-visa fee for one-year and five-year of issuance is going to cost USD 25.

For travellers from island nations such as Fiji, Cook Islands, and the Solomon Islands, short-duration visa would not be issued. This is extended to 11 more island nations along with the three. Also, interested travellers from Myanmar, Argentina, Mauritius, Jamaica, Indonesia, Seychelles, and South Africa would be exempted, but have to pay the one-year and five-year visa fees.

According to Prahlad Patel, the new e-visa rules are basically an effort to encourage inbound travel to India. This proposal has reportedly been cleared by the Ministry of Home Affairs.