India received 10.6 million foreign tourists in 2018-2019 as compared to 10.4 million in 2017-18, according to the country's Economic Survey tabled on Thursday.

Nirmala Sitharaman, federal finance and corporate affairs presented the report in the parliament.

"India received 10.6 million foreign tourists in 2018-19 compared to 10.4 million in 2017-18," said the finance ministry quoting Economic Survey. "Foreign exchange earnings from tourism in India stood at 27.7 billion US dollars in 2018-19 compared to 28.7 billion US dollars in 2017-18."

According to Economic Survey, "tourism sector is a major engine of economic growth that contributes significantly in terms of GDP, foreign exchange earnings and employment."

The outbound tourism increased in recent years, with the number of departures of Indian nationals from India, that stood at 23.94 million in 2017 as against 21.87 million in 2016, with a growth rate of 9.5 percent in 2017, the report added.

The release of Economic Survey 2018-2019 came a day ahead of the presentation of the annual budget.