External Affairs Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin says India has carefully examined the asylum request and decided to turn it down.
He said Tuesday that the government has "concluded that we see no reason to accede to that request."
The anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks has said that Snowden has applied to more than 20 countries for asylum including India and China.
Snowden has been on the run since he exposed highly secret National Security Agency surveillance programs. He is believed to be staying in the transit area of Moscow's airport since arriving there from Hong Kong on June 23.
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