Flying to India had until now a 1990s feel, with the presentation of a paper-printed ticket being compulsory, both to enter the airport and to go through immigration formalities.
But everything changes from 1 September 2026. International travellers leaving India will avoid a formality whose purpose at immigration was somewhat questionable: the stamp placed on the boarding pass. It will be phased out across all the country's international airports. And with its abolition, the requirement to have a paper version of one's ticket disappears.
Last week, the Bureau of Immigration (BoI), which comes under the authority of the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, actually asked airport authorities to put an end to this somewhat outdated practice during border control checks.
According to the Indian authorities, the former procedure could turn into a nuisance for travellers. Issues related to poorly stamped or hard-to-read stamps are said to have complicated the reading of boarding passes.
Passengers will now be able to present their electronic boarding pass directly on their smartphone during immigration control. This development aims to streamline the departure process, reduce document handling and modernise airport procedures. This change applies to all international passengers departing from India.
This is accompanied by an effort by the authorities to digitalise the airport experience. A programme, named Digi Yatra, already makes it possible in participating airports to reduce the use of physical documents through the integration of ticket, identity and biometric data. This thereby reduces queues and speeds up checks at the airport.
Those nostalgic for the paper plane ticket can nevertheless take heart: the latter is not disappearing and will continue to be accepted by immigration authorities. Albeit without the famous stamp!
