Indias air security score has fallen by about 17 per cent in an audit conducted by the United Nations aviation watchdog, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), say reports. The ICAO has voiced several concerns over the security of Indias airports and aviation infrastructure.

India also recorded a dip in its air safety score after it was audited by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, Indias aviation safety regulator. Indias poor performance in the security audit could potentially affect international expansion plans of Indias airlines, experts said.

India has got a score of 79.36 per cent in maintaining security requirements as per International standards, sources privy to the audit said. This is the poorest score India has recorded in an ICAO audit in recent times. In the last such security audit by ICAO, in October 2015, Indias score was around 98 per cent.

Prior to this, ICAO had conducted an audit of Indian aviation security systems in February 2011 and at that time Indias security score was 89 per cent. The latest ICAO rating is based on a site inspection of the Chennai airport and an overall audit of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), the aviation security regulator. Sources said the audit was done on the basis of mainly three parametersoversight security indicator, compliance indicator and protocol questions