Originally Posted by gt0138d
I don't know specifically about Kingfisher but the higher charges are for non-residents and NOT non-citizens (got into a heated argument with an IA staff member years ago when I first experienced this daylight robbery).
I know that Indian citizens living abroad pay higher fare (legally - of course, may figured out ingenious ways to hoodwink this) and non-citizens living in India pay the lower fare (legally but they have to go the extra mile of showing proof of residence in India).
It is the stupid rule imposed by Indian Government from the socialist era of fleeing the brave and the few tourist that dare step into the country.
-------Edited to fix typo---------
Your point about the legal fare discrimination being done on the basis of residence (not citizenship) is generally correct.
The dual-pricing (i.e., resident rates vs. non-resident rates) set-up existed even before the Indian government existed and is not limited to government entities. And it's not limited to airlines, as it exists with hotels too.
That said, I've never been a fan of dual-pricing because it seems like I'm meant to be on the wrong side of it.
Plenty of non-citizen Indian residents -- Russian, Turkish, Egyptian, Somali, Afghan, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Israeli, French, Brazilian, Colombian, Venezuelan, and Mexican citizens (amongst others) -- legally avail themselves to the local air fares without showing proof of residence in India. And, alternatively, I've also seen resident Indian citizens being asked for proof of being "local".