
Indian company offers visas for ₹1: Is US visa available? What about UK, Schengen? All your questions, answered
The travel tech company now offers visas for ₹ 1 only. Here's how it works:
Atlys' offer is for Indian residents who have valid Indian passports and apply directly through the company website. It does not apply if you use an agent or a third party.
You can apply for only one visa under this offer. If you add family members, regular visa charges will apply for them.
The offer does not apply to group, bulk or business bookings. To apply, you must upload your valid Indian passport and a passport-size photo. Depending on the rules of the destination country, you should also upload other required documents like financial proof or travel bookings.
The embassy sets document rules, not the company. So, if your documents are incorrect or incomplete, your visa may be rejected. Visa appointments are not guaranteed as slots are controlled by embassies.
To get the ₹ 1 visa offer, you must complete and submit your application between August 4 (6 AM IST) and August 5 2025 (11:59 PM IST).
Slots are not served on a first-come, first-served basis. It rather depends on who finishes the process first. Selfie verification on the company website is compulsory.
For some e-Visa countries, ₹ 1 may cover both the Atlys service fee and the government fee. For in-person visa countries, only the Atlys fee is covered, unless mentioned otherwise.
UK visas are fully covered as a special case. For US and Schengen visas, the ₹ 1 offer includes only the Atlys service and appointment fees.
The applicant must pay government charges like visa and biometric fees. The list of countries included is available on the Atlys website. This offer is only for self-applications and may end anytime, depending on availability.

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Indian Express
6 minutes ago
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What India can learn from the maritime prowess of the Cholas
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By comprehending maritime ventures during the Chola period, it is possible to understand the present Chinese ventures in the Indian Ocean under the garb of the Belt and Road Initiative. The Chinese indeed had trade connections, but not in the present form of economically tethering countries along the Maritime Silk Route. There were two main interlinked drivers for the Cholas' maritime projection: Mercantilism and military expansion. At the turn of the first millennium, the trade patterns witnessed a transformation from pre-emporia to emporia. Pre-emporia trade denoted shipping of goods directly from the source of production to the place of consumption. Whereas, the emporia trade pattern meant that several intermediate ports catered to the breaking up of bulk goods for retail sales and purchases. Coinciding with such a change in trade pattern was the rise of 'corporate empires' like the Cholas, the Srivijaya Empire, the Khmer Kingdom of Cambodia, Champa in Vietnam, and the Song Dynasty in China. Varieties of goods were traded among the ports of these regions that included metals, spices, perfumes, cosmetics, precious stones, textiles, and even animals like elephants and horses. Significantly, customs levied on these goods that transited through seas constituted a chunk of the coffers of corporate empires. Though such a financial network gave a kind of order in these 'corporate' empires, it also led to disputes among those empires that tried to arm-twist the transiting trading crafts to serve their economic and political interests. The dispute started when the Srivijayans became avaricious and imposed a high levy for the passage of goods carriers through Southeast Asia. The Cholas did not take it kindly and wanted to get away from the 'Malacca dilemma' posed by the Southeast Asian kingdom. The Srivijaya rulers were also trying to control the land crossing across Kra Isthmus. Rajendra Chola went on to occupy Malaysia to control the Malacca Straits and also acquired Java and Sumatra by defeating Sailendra rulers during his Digvijaya. As China emerged as a leading trading point and market, securing sea lanes of communication became imperative. The Chinese considered the Cholas ('Chulian' by the Chinese) as a 'first-class' trade partner. Chola kings wanted to send a clear message to the Chinese that they would not hesitate to use military options against the obstructing elements (both state and non-state) to ensure the free flow of goods. This 'choke point syndrome' pervades even today, although the Chinese are more worried now than the Indians were then. To achieve the above two objectives, the Cholas depended on a strong and well-organised navy that was built over a period of time. Kings used to get a good deal of their income from trade and could thus afford to maintain a large and powerful navy without exhausting their land revenue base. The Chola Navy consisted of an armada of ships that were constructed and used for trade purposes. According to historical records, the Chola armada comprised destroyers, frigates and battleships. Apart, they used colandia, large expeditionary vessels, and sangara, large oceangoing single log vessels, to transport troops and logistics. These ships had the capability and experience to travel long distances. Kattumarams were small boats of wood tied together to float in shallow waters and to move goods from large ships to shore, and also to make amphibious attacks. The Chola Navy also included a strong intelligence wing to track intrusion of foreign naval forces. The Chola seafarers mostly used winds, heavenly bodies and currents to sail across seas. The kings were said to have encouraged the study of astronomy, geography and cartography as part of their maritime expeditions. A specialised study on the science of shipping and ship-building was patronised and pursued. Apart from commercial and trade interests, there were larger politico-strategic and cultural drivers behind the maritime ventures of the Cholas. They had to prove their might both in peninsular India and in the maritime neighbourhood. They had to protect trade routes and traders of Tamilagam. It was, in fact, a matter of survival and pride. Also, as Saivites, they considered it their religious duty to carry Saivism beyond Indian shores. Such drivers are true in the present context as well. It is intriguing to note why the Cholas did not pay attention to West Asia and Africa as much as they focused on South and Southeast Asia. One wonders whether it was because of the quantum of direction of trade that was flowing mostly from the west to the east, or did the Cholas consider Africa and West Asia beyond their reach? This aspect needs a fresh enquiry. Manoharan is Director, and Diya is a Researcher at the Centre for East Asian Studies, Christ University, Bangalore
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Business Standard
6 minutes ago
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A fresh approach needed to manage demand and supply of fertilisers
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Additional production from new capacity and enhanced capacity of old plants increased production from about 24 million tonnes in 2018-19 to nearly 31 million tonnes in 2024-25. This reduced urea imports from a high of 10 million tonnes in 2020-21 to 5.7 MMT in 2024-25. But domestic industry is dependent on imported natural gas to the extent of almost 85 per cent of its requirement. Since natural gas supply remains quite steady under long-term supply contracts, capacity utilisation of urea plants is always nearly 100 per cent. Increasing demand of urea There has been continuous increase in demand for urea in spite of several efforts of the government, including introduction of nano urea and promotion of organic agriculture. Urea demand has gone up from 31.4 million tonnes to 38.2 million tonnes during the last 6 years. With recent closure of a few plants and ever-increasing demand for urea, our dependence on imported urea will increase in coming years. 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Therefore, it can be concluded that 5-6 million tonnes can be saved without sacrificing agriculture production. With the average cost of production being in the vicinity of $400 per tonne urea, one can easily see that there are huge savings to be made by farmers and the government on urea subsidy. What is needed is strengthening of extension services by state governments and rationalisation of urea retail price by the Centre. Simultaneously, it should also be ensured that there is adequate investment in existing urea plants to sustain and even increase production. Supply side of nitrogen can also be improved by promotion of production of green ammonia through adequate incentives under various schemes. Incentives under Green Hydrogen Mission equivalent to about $100 per tonne ammonia are not adequate. Green ammonia should be made competitive with imported ammonia and ammonia produced using imported gas. This requires higher incentives in initial years till the cost of green hydrogen decreases and hence green ammonia comes down. Green ammonia can be used to produce urea to the extent possible and other nitrogen containing fertilisers. This will not only reduce our dependence on imported urea and natural gas, but will also be a big step in advancing towards our climate change goals. A technology fund can be established to promote production and use of green ammonia and investment in modernisation of existing ammonia urea plants. India's capacity to produce phospahtic fertilisers underutilised In case of phosphatic fertilisers, India has a very small quantity of domestic rock phosphate which meets less than 5 per cent of phosphate consumption in the country. Rest is imported either as raw material-rock phosphate or intermediate-phosphoric acid to produce phosphate containing fertilisers. The gap between demand and domestic production is made up with imports of finished products. India has sufficient manufacturing capacity in this segment, but it is not fully utilised either due to lack of availability of sufficient raw materials or commercial reasons. There are only a limited number of countries endowed with large phosphate resources. These countries export both raw materials and finished products. Many times relative prices of raw materials and finished products make manufacture of fertilisers in India unviable. Hence, we continue to import almost 30 per cent of phosphatic fertilisers. Situation has become more critical in view of geopolitical conditions. India has been following the approach to import raw material, intermediate and finished products to mitigate the risk of dependence on import of a single commodity. For the security of supply, Indian fertiliser companies established six joint ventures in Senegal, Morocco, Jordan, Tunisia and South Africa for production of phosphoric acid with buy back arrangements. But availability of phosphoric acid still falls short of the requirement of Indian plants. In the absence of commercially exploitable resources, India is completely dependent on imported potassic fertilisers in the form of Muriate of Potash (MOP). Certainty needed in pricing policy The policy of nutrient-based subsidy should have certainty in the level of subsidy for at least 2-3 years. MRP of these fertilisers should be market determined as is the provision in the policy. This will help the industry to plan and arrange imports of raw materials and finished products in advance. India being the largest importer, moves in the international markets and last- minute entry of Indian buyers pushes up the prices. Certainty in pricing policy will also help companies to sign long-term supply agreements for inputs and products. There are deposits of low-grade rock phosphates in Madhya Pradesh which need to be exploited. This low-grade rock can be beneficiated to higher grade. In fact, there are a few beneficiation plants in Madhya Pradesh, but are not getting the raw rock phosphate to process to high grade rock for production of SSP and DAP. There are also some low-grade potash minerals in Rajasthan and elsewhere which need to be exploited. Even minor sources like sea bittern and sugar industry waste can contribute to availability of potash in a significant way. There is a need for investment in phosphate and potash mines abroad to secure supply of the basic raw materials which will help to better utilise the domestic capacity. In view of the risk associated with acquisition of large mines for phosphate and potash abroad, the government should help to mitigate investment risk and help raise funds for the same. It can establish an investment fund which can participate in equity and debt to enable companies to take up such projects. There is also the need to change the consumption pattern of fertilisers. Enhancing use of organic fertilisers can hardly be emphasised to increase soil organic carbon of soils. This will help to increase the efficacy of chemical fertilisers. Amongst the chemical fertilisers, consumption should be diverted away from urea and DAP in the interest of balanced fertilisation. Products like ammonium sulphate, single super phosphate, triple super phosphate and various complexes need to be promoted. This will also take pressure off from demand of urea and DAP. To conclude, there is a need for a fresh approach to manage fertiliser demand and ensuring supply of fertiliser raw materials and products. Pricing and subsidy policies need to be overhauled to rationalise consumption patterns and incentivise exploitation of indigenous resources. Government should also facilitate investment in modernisation of Indian fertiliser plants and mines abroad. In view of strategic importance of fertilisers, there have to be medium- and long-term plans to avoid any crisis in future. (The writer is a professor with ICRIER).