Modi Govt Revoked 57 OCI Cards in 2024, Nearly Half of All Cancellations in 10 Years: Report

The Wire

22-05-2025

Raphael Satter, Nitisha Kaul and Ashok Swain. Illustration via Canva
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New Delhi: Cancellation of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) registrations spiked in 2024 with the Union home ministry cancelling as many as 57 OCI cards in 2024 alone.
The cancellations in 2024 were nearly half the total number of OCI cancellations in the past decade, data obtained by The Hindu under the Right to Information Act shows.
The Union government revoked the OCI status of individuals under Section 7D of the Citizenship Act, 1955. The section states that the Union government may cancel OCI registration on the following grounds:
the registration as an Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder was obtained by means of fraud, false representation or the concealment of any material fact; or
the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder has shown disaffection towards the Constitution, as by law established; or
the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder has, during any war in which India may be engaged, unlawfully traded or communicated with an enemy or been engaged in, or associated with, any business or commercial activity that was to his knowledge carried on in such manner as to assist an enemy in that war; or
the Overseas Citizen of India Cardholder has, within five years after registration under sub-section (1) of section 7A, been sentenced to imprisonment for a term of not less than two years;
Between 2014-2023, the Union government cancelled 122 OCI registrations under section 7D; 57 in 2024 and 15 in 2025 as of May 19, the report said.
Earlier this week, Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic who has been critical of the Modi government, said that the latter revoked her OCI status.
'Through your numerous inimical writings, speeches, and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms, you regularly target India and its institutions on the matters of India's sovereignty,' the Union government's notice to Kaul said.
She has called the move a 'vindictive' and 'cruel' example of 'transnational repression'.
Watch | My OCI was Cancelled Twice by the Government and Restored Both Times by the Courts: Ashok Swain
OCI status grants foreign nationals of Indian provenance certain benefits, including a 'multiple-entry, multi-purpose lifelong visa to visit India'. It has been noted that the Modi government has revoked the OCI status of various critics over the last few years.
In 2021, the Union government introduced an additional permit that journalists, missionaries and mountaineers require alongside their OCI registration.
There have been several notable OCI cancellations including that of French journalist Vanessa Dougnac (2024), Sweden-based academic Ashok Swain (2023) and American journalist Raphael Satter (2023).
In the case of Dougnac and Swain, the court set aside the government's decision and asked the government reinstate their OCI status. Satter's case is being heard in the court.