During the January-October 2013 period, the number of total visa issued to foreign nationals rose by 17% to 26 lac compared to the same period a year-ago. Of this, tourist visa comprised a major chunk of the visa issued with a share of 77.5 percent or 20.23 lakh. The 'Business Visa' category was the second largest with a share of 18% for the same period and had grown by 16.4%.

A very high number of visa were issued in two categories - 'Visit' and the 'Student' visa category. The chart below shows the break-up of the all the visa issued for the above mentioned period:

Of the 20.2 lakh tourist visa issued, Bangladesh had the largest share of almost 18% or 3.6 lac visa issued to India. This was followed by UK and USA. Together, these three countries comprised 36% of total tourist visa issued.