Currently, most of the companies are government-owned and include the Indian Oil Corporation, State Trading Corporation, and Shipping Corporation. There seems to be little interest as yet among privately owned corporations. As a pilot, the heritage sites include the Lodhi garden monuments in New Delhi, the Sun temple in Konark, the Khajuraho temples, famed for their erotic sculpture, the Mahabalipuram temples and the Tughlaqabad Fort in New Delhi.
The initiative was launched by the government’s National Culture Fund (NCF), a trust formed by the Ministry of Culture to protect important heritage sites. The places chosen contribute a big chunk to India’s tourist receipts. The most popular ones are probably Khajuraho, well-known for its connection with the Kamasutra, and the Mahabalipuram temples, popularly known as the Shore temples, located on the coast of eastern India. Overseas tourist arrivals increased 10.2 percent from 2014 to 2015, though revenue was down by 2.9 percent to $19.67 billion U.S.
The Indian government has also unveiled several other tourist-friendly schemes to draw foreign tourists, including the recent e-tourist visa facility. Other reforms include greater coordination among ministries, e-ticketing facilities, visa on arrival services for citizens of select nationalities, and theme-based travel circuits. Speaking at a “Make in India” National Workshop on Tourism, Media, and Entertainment in New Delhi, India’s minister of tourism and culture, Mahesh Sharma detailed these initiatives, “Five theme based-circuits, Ganga, Krishna, Buddha, North East and Kerala circuits being developed by the Ministry of Tourism which has allotted INR 500 crore (80 million USD) for the development of these circuits.”
