Hajj 2025: J&K pilgrims to Saudi Arabia drop 70% in two years. What’s behind the decline?

Hajj 2025: The number of annual Hajj pilgrims to Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia from Jammu and Kashmir has reduced by about 70 per cent in last two years, officials said. The decline in pilgrim numbers is primarily because of a combination of factors, including soaring travel costs, they said.

The key factors include the rising cost of travel after the removal of government subsidies, the absence of foreign airlines in this year’s Hajj operations, and unbearable temperatures in Saudi Arabia.

This year, about 3,624 pilgrims are expected to perform Hajj 2025 from the Union Territory, This is about half the number of 7,008 pilgrims who performed Hajj in 2024, officials said.

“As many as 3,624 pilgrims from J&K and 242 from Ladakh will perform Hajj this year,” Shujaat Ahmad Qureshi, executive officer, J&K Hajj Committee, told reporters in Srinagar.

Hajj flights are scheduled to begin operating from May 4, from Srinagar to Saudi Arabia. The final flight to Saudi is scheduled on May 15.

This year Hajj flights are scheduled to begin from May 4, from Srinagar to Saudi Arabia, with the final flight carrying pilgrims on May 15.

This year, Hajj is expected to take place from June 4 to June 9, 2025, depending on the sighting of the moon, marking the beginning of Zil-Hajj, the 12th month of the Islamic calendar. 

12,079 Hajj pilgrims from J&K in 2023

Last year 7,008 pilgrims from J&K performed the Hajj. In 2023, the number was 12,079 pilgrims while in 2022, around 6,000 pilgrims from Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh performed Hajj pilgrimage. Before 2022, Hajj was suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

“Hajj this year falls in peak summer season amid high temperatures and the rates of Hajj have also gone up primarily because of 15% VAT charged by Saudi Arabia after 2019 and the discontinuation of subsidy by India after 2018,” said an official.

The Hajj subsidy, which aimed to offset travel costs for pilgrims from India to Saudi Arabia, was abolished in January 2018.

The subsidy was abolished in accordance with a Supreme Court order, the government said in January 2018.

“A constitutional bench of the Supreme Court had, during the Congress regime in 2012, directed that the Haj subsidy be done away with. Hence, in the new policy, as per the recommendations of a committee, we have decided to do away with the Haj subsidy gradually,” Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the then minister for minority affairs, said.

Private Quota Slashed

Union Ministry of Minority Affairs, through theHajj Committee of India, manages arrangements for the bulk of the quota allotted to India, which is 1,22,518 in 2025. The balance of the quota (over 50,000 pilgrims) was allotted to Private Tour Operators.

However, the Ministry blamed private tour operators for India losing over 52,500 slots for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now agreed to accommodate 10,000 Indian pilgrims after the Union government engaged with the Kingdom over the reported slashing of the private Hajj pilgrim quota for Indian pilgrims, the Ministry of Minority Affairs said on April 15.