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Stephen Jenkins, 58, from Yorkshire, is being held in Tihar jail in Delhi.
He was convicted on drugs charges in 2006.
Jail officials say Jenkins wants to die in his homeland and will be sent back in May. UK officials said arrangements for his transfer were nearly complete.
Jenkins will be among the first inmates to benefit under a 2005 India-UK accord on prisoner transfers.
'Very happy'
"I want to die in my homeland. I can serve the rest of my imprisonment in my country's jail. Please send me," Jenkins wrote in his request for transfer, a Tihar prison official told the BBC.
The appeal was forwarded to the governments of India and the UK. It was accepted about a fortnight ago, the jail official said.
Jenkins is set to leave for Britain in the second week of May, he said.
Court orders bar Jenkins from talking to the media, but Tihar officials say he is "very happy" that he is going home.
"He is old and he is seriously ill. He thinks he will not survive his full sentence," the official said.
According to jail records, Jenkins is from Yorkshire in northern England and was unemployed before travelling to India.
The records say he was arrested in August 2004. In November 2006 he was sentenced to 10 years in jail for "peddling drugs".
A spokeswoman for the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the details of the transfer were still being finalised.
"Procedures are in place to formalise the request and complete it," she told the BBC.
She could not confirm when Jenkins would return to the UK, or say which prison would house him.
She said a small number of prisoners had already been repatriated under the transfer accord.
(BBC)
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