Indians flying abroad no longer to fill departure card

However, those going out of the country via rail, seaport and land immigration checkposts will have to fill the embarkation card.

"It has been decided to discontinue the practice of filling up of departure card by Indians at all international airports with effect from July 1, 2017," an order issued by the Union home ministry said.

The move is aimed at ensuring hassle-free movement of Indians going abroad. At present, those going abroad need to fill in details such as name, date of birth, passport number, address in India, flight number and date of boarding in the departure card.

"The same information (about the passengers) is available in the system from other sources," the home ministry order said, citing reasons behind its move.

The decision will help reduce the time required to complete immigration-related formalities by passengers and also enable airports and the authorities concerned to cater to a larger number of people.

The need for Indians to fill such cards on their arrival in India has already been done away with.

The customs department had last year done away with the need for Indian passengers to fill up a declaration form while coming to India if they were not carrying dutiable goods.

Those carrying prohibited and dutiable goods are only required to fill up an 'Indian Customs Declaration Form', earlier mandatory for all passengers entering the country.

Meanwhile, having joined the race to buy out Air India, IndiGo President Aditya Ghosh has told employees that it will not embark on the journey if it is not profitable and jeopardises interests of the airline.

Making its intention clear to become a world-class international carrier, IndiGo became the first airline to formally express interest in loss-making Air India soon after the government decided on its disinvestment even as the modalities are being worked out.

IndiGo, the country's largest airline with a domestic market share of a little over 41 per cent, is keen on snapping up the international operations of Air India as well as its profitable ow-cost arm Air India Express.

As an alternative, the budget carrier is "equally interested" in buying out all the operations of Air India and Air India Express, according to the letter sent by Ghosh to the civil aviation ministry.