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Yes, the Government of India discontinued the issuance of new PIO cards as of January 9, 2015. The PIO card is now merged with the OCI card. Therefore, applicants who already hold an OCI card must apply for a PIO to OCI conversion to obtain an OCI. According to the Indian government gazette notification 11 of 9 January 2015, all the PIO (Person of Indian Origin) cardholders will be considered as OCI (Overseas Citizen of India) cardholders.
As per the government of India gazette notification number 26011/01/2014, on 09/January/2015, all the PIO cards published until 9 January 2015 are considered as OCI cards. For this, the PIO cardholders need to apply for a conversion application before 31 March 2016. After this, if any PIO cardholders want to travel to India, then he or she need to have a valid visa.
I have a PIO card before, but after the notification from the government of India, I quickly applied for the conversion application for PIO to OCI card, and it helps me to travel safely to India with some more benefits.
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All the individuals who have a PIO card have to apply for the conversion of the PIO to an OCI card because the government of India has discontinued the new issuance of the PIO card, and merged the PIO and OCI cards from 9 January 2015, and all the individuals who have a PIO card are considered OCI cardholders from 9 January 2015. Applicants can apply for a conversion application through the OCI services website by filing out an online application form.