e-Tourist Visa Report Jan-Aug 2015

Government of India launched Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), presently known as e-Tourist Visa scheme on 27th November 2014. At present e-Tourist Visa facility is available for citizens of 113 countries (including 36 countries for which the facility was extended on 15th August, 2015) arriving at 16 Airports in India (includes 7 airports added from 15th August, 2015). 

The following are the important highlights of e-Tourist Visa during August, 2015: 

(i)    During the month of August, 2015 a total of 22,286 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 2,705 during the month of August, 2014 registering a growth of 723.9%. 

(ii)    During January- August, 2015 a total of 1,69,976 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 17,120 during January-August, 2014 registering a growth of 892.9% . 

(iii)    This high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries as against coverage of earlier TVoA scheme for 12 countries. 

(iv)    The percentage shares of top 10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facility during August 2015 were as follows: 

USA (25.93%), Germany (10.00%), UAE (8.92%), France (8.76%), Australia (7.20%), Canada (6.39%), Republic of Korea (4.23%), Japan (3.41%), Russian Federation (2.37%) and Singapore (2.22%).

(v)    The percentage shares of different ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during August 2015 were as follows: 

New Delhi (42.67%), Mumbai (23.40%), Bengaluru (10.37%), Chennai (9.07%), Kochi (5.44%), Hyderabad (4.21%), Kolkata (2.38%), Trivandrum (1.87%) and Goa (0.58%).

4.    Nooyi Fortune's powerful women in business list

PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi is the sole Indian-origin executive in Fortune's list of 50 most powerful women in business, which has been topped by General Motors CEO Mary Barra.

India-born Nooyi is ranked 2nd on the list, moving up a notch from her third position last year. Fortune said about the 59-year-old top executive that she beaten back a challenge from activist investor Nelson Peltz, landing a big marketing deal with the NBA, and managed to post 4 per cent organic revenue growth in 2014.

Barra tops the Fortune list of 50 Most Powerful Women in Business and in her second year as head of the nation’s largest auto-maker. The list also includes IBM CEO Ginni Rometty on the third rank, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg on 8th, and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer at 18th.