India expands E-Visa access by adding 11 new ports of entry

The Ministry of Home Affairs has designated Bhopal and Tirupati airports, along with nine land crossings, for e-visa entry. The new land ports are Attari in Punjab; Gede, Ghojadanga and Jaigaon in West Bengal; Darranga in Assam; Agartala in Tripura; Moreh in Manipur; and Haridaspur in Odisha.

The additions take India’s e-visa network to 88 international entry points, including 37 airports, 38 seaports and 13 land ports.

+3.6% growth in inbound arrivals in first half year 2026
The move comes against a backdrop of a modest growth in inbound travel. Ministry of Tourism monthly snapshots show 4.344 million foreign tourist arrivals during January-June 2026, compared with approximately 4.19 million during the same period of 2025, an increase of about 3.6%.

Monthly arrivals were strongest at the beginning of the year. India recorded 1.007 million FTAs in January, followed by approximately 972,000 in February, 730,000 in March, 534,000 in April, 517,000 in May and 584,000 in June.

May arrivals increased 5.7% year over year, while June rose 3.3%, according to the Ministry’s latest snapshots.

The figures show a gradual improvement after a sharp slowdown in March (-14.3%) and April (-5.3%) due to the Gulf War which disturbed transfer flows through Middle East air hubs. However, monthly arrivals remain below the levels seen at the start of the year.

India’s inbound market remains highly concentrated. In June, Delhi accounted for 30.9% of FTAs, followed by Mumbai at 17.4%, Bengaluru at 11.7%, Chennai at 11.5% and Hyderabad at 7.5%. The same five gateways also dominated May arrivals, with Delhi handling 34.7%, Mumbai 17%, Chennai 10.3%, Bengaluru 10.2% and Hyderabad 5.3%.

The wider gateway network could help regional destinations attract more direct international traffic, particularly in eastern and north-eastern India.

E-visas now represent about 78% of visas issued, while the government says around 95% of applications are processed within 72 hours. Introduced in 2014, the electronic visa system has expanded from 43 eligible countries to 172 nationalities.

The Ministry of Tourism’s official data portal records 9.15 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2025, down 8.07% year over year. International tourist arrivals, which include foreign tourists and non-resident Indians, totalled 20.22 million. However, the country targets around 100 million travellers (foreign nationalities and non-resident Indians) by 2047.