Minister for tourism and culture Shripad Naik said the new visa would mean travellers could apply online for permission to travel and would receive a reply within 72 hours.

Providing the reply is positive, the tourist could then be able to fly to India with the correct paperwork where immigration officials would then supply them with their visa on arrival.

However, Naik refused to say when the scheme would be introduced or which countries would benefit from it.

Instead, he said the full details would be released in a speech,A which hopefully will be made before the end of the month.

“Hopefully this month we are going to have some great news and it is going to be a path breaker,” Naik added.

He said the latest visa move comes following the recent addition of South Korea to a list of 12 countries where travellers can now be granted a Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA).

The number of TVOAs issued has grown by 26.3% in 2013 compared to 2012 as travellers increasingly take advantage of the ease of visiting the country.

Naik said India’s tourism was growing well at the moment with Foreign Tourist Arrivals growing by 7.6% to 5.17 million in the period from January to September this year.