Pune-the foreign visitors’ hub

Pune: After hosting a large flock of foreign students over the years, the city is now seeing an increasing number of foreign visitors who are not students. Records show that foreigners who come to the city for non-academic purposes are growing in the last five years.

Known as the Oxford of the East, the city boasts of a large number of foreign-national students. The number has been on the rise. Yet, the growth seems to be downwards on percentage basis as records show increasing number of non-student foreign national visiting the city.

Every foreign national residing in the city for more than 180 days has to register at the Foreigners’ Registration Branch in the Police Commisionerate. The records available with Foreigners’ Registration Branch show that 4,214 students registered in the last year as compared to 3,445 students in 2006, which shows a growth of 22 per cent. In 2005, the number of students registered was 3,784, while in 2004, the number was 2,900. This shows that number of foreign student dropped in 2006 while 2005 had witnessed a growth of almost 30 per cent.

At the same period, overall foreign visitors have increased relatively. In 2007, there have been 6,153 visitors compared to 5,024 in the previous year. That amounts to a growth of 22.5 per cent. The growth in the preceding year was 9 per cent. The exception was in 2006, when there was a decline. The registration at the Foreigners’ Registration Branch is categorised on the basis of visa. They are put in student, tourist and others categories.

“The number of students is large but the overall visitors are growing. At times, the manpower in our office seems inadequate,” says inspector S.V. Gadgil, who is in charge of the registration office. As most foreign tourists leave the city within days of their arrival, their count in the records is low. Spouses and relatives of students, those on medical visa or other purpose are included in other category.