Over 18L foreigners visited India this yr on evisa: Govt

: As many as 18.78 lakh foreigners – mostly from UK, US, China, France, and Germany — visited India this year on E-Visa, the Union Home Ministry on Wednesday said. Last year, 17 lakh people visited India. The ministry ascribed the rise in tourist to liberalized E-Visa regime. The fee collection this year till October 31 was $ 137,527,270 as against $ 105,558,496 in 2017. The top five countries whose nationals availed E-visa services are the UK (2,921,432), the US (2,213,393), China (1,270,224), France (1,071,855) and Germany (89,863), the ministry said. Citizens of 166 countries can avail the E-Visa. “With the E-visa facility, the foreigner does not have to interact with any Indian official till the immigration counter,” the ministry said in a statement.