Visa-on-arrival: 1,134 issued since January

The response has been very encouraging. It has exceeded our expectations, said Tourism Secretary Sujit Banerjee.

While it is still early days,the government is extremely happy that the total number of visa-on-arrivals issued in February

was almost 50 per cent higher than in January 675 compared to 459.

The Home Ministry,on persistent requests from the Tourism Ministry,had in December last year,decided to offer visa-on-arrival facility to citizens of these five countries as a pilot project.

The decision was seen as a big and bold step considering that it had come barely a year after Indias worst ever terror attack,in Mumbai in November 2008.

Allowing unverified foreign nationals inside the country,even though only till the airport,was considered a genuine

security risk.

As such,the choice of the five countries was dictated mainly by the fact that none of their citizens had ever been found to be involved in or even linked to any terror activity anywhere in the world.

The Home Ministry,which had been extremely circumspect about this scheme,is also pleased with the response till now.

A senior Home Ministry official pointed out that so far there had not been any attempt by an undesirable element to get into the country by availing this facility.

We have not received any complaint about anyone so far. The system has functioned very smoothly till now, the official said.

The Tourism Ministry has been hoping that visa-on-arrival facility will help in boosting the foreign tourist arrivals in the country,which has only now started showing an upswing after more than a year of downturn due to the global economic slowdown.

It is hoped that this facility would be eventually opened up for citizens from some other countries as well.