New Zealand’s close ties and friendly relationship with India may soon reap rewards for tourists intending to visit the world’s largest democracy.
The Indian government may be set to offer New Zealand tourists visas on arrival.
New Delhi had always been reluctant to offer such visas because of security concerns, but has selected New Zealand and four other countries, the Indian Express newspaper reported.
"The government . . . has decided to clear the names of Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Finland as the countries whose nationals can fly into India and obtain a visa at the airport," the newspaper reported on its website.
"A formal notification in this regard is likely to be made very soon."
The decision - nominally to boost tourism - will be the first time India has offered visa-on-arrival services other than to Bhutan and Nepal. Previous proposals have been linked to a desire to see reciprocal arrangements for Indian travellers.
"The choice of the selected countries has been dictated by the fact that no national of any of these countries has ever been found to be involved in - even linked to - any terror-related incident anywhere in the world."