India visa website, The Economist, Indian visa application, digital governance, government websites, and India digital infrastructure have become the centre of an online debate after The Economist published a critical assessment of India’s visa application portal. The article sparked strong reactions on social media, with some users agreeing that the website needs improvement, while others defended India’s broader digital achievements and questioned the publication’s portrayal of the country’s technology ecosystem.

In its Ashoka column, The Economist described India’s visa application website as “clunky” and “hostile,” claiming users should prepare with “water and paracetamol” before navigating the portal. The publication pointed to outdated page designs, broken links, intrusive pop-up windows, complex CAPTCHA systems and technical glitches, arguing that these reflected bureaucratic inefficiencies rather than a lack of technological expertise. It also referred to an ethical hacker’s findings on vulnerabilities in another government portal to support its broader criticism of digital governance.

The article prompted mixed reactions across India. Some public figures, including NCP (SP) spokesperson Anish Gawande and Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia, agreed that the visa portal suffers from usability issues and called for improvements. Others, including corporate strategist Sandip Ghose and scientist Deepessh Divaakaran, argued that focusing on a single website overlooked India’s globally recognised digital initiatives such as Aadhaar, UPI, and other large-scale public digital infrastructure. Several social media users also shared positive experiences with the visa portal, suggesting that the platform’s performance varies across users.

The debate soon expanded beyond the visa website to broader questions about the quality of public digital services. While India has earned international recognition for developing digital infrastructure, experts have previously highlighted that several government websites continue to face challenges related to accessibility, user-friendly design and modern interface standards. Analysts attribute these issues to legacy administrative systems, procurement processes and the digitisation of paper-based workflows without sufficient emphasis on user experience.

Industry observers noted that concerns about the visa portal have been raised for years. At the same time, the government has continued efforts to modernise online services, including introducing revamped portals for foreign contribution regulation and digital Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards. Whether the renewed public attention leads to wider improvements in the usability of government websites remains to be seen.