- Thursday, February 27, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Narendra Modi government will soon start issuing e-passports for all its citizens.
Sanjay Bhattacharyya, secretary, India’s ministry of external affairs, on Wednesday (5) confirmed this in a tweet.
He said, “India to soon introduce next-gen ePassport for citizens.”
India ?? to soon introduce next-gen #ePassport for citizens
– secure #biometric data
– smooth passage through #immigration posts globally
– @icao compliant
– produced at India Security Press, Nashik
– #eGovernance @passportsevamea @MEAIndia #AzadiKaAmritMahotsav pic.twitter.com/tmMjhvvb9W— Sanjay Bhattacharyya (@SecySanjay) January 5, 2022
Bhattacharyya added that the passports would be secure with biometric data and will help in smooth passage through immigration posts across the globe. He also said that the passport will be made at India Security Press in Nashik in the western state of Maharashtra.
According to reports that came out earlier, a microchip embedded in the passport will include all important information related to its holder’s biometric data and security features that will not allow unauthorised data transfer through RFID (radio frequency identification).
The documents are equipped to resist identity theft, forgery and better connectivity for a smooth immigration process, the Economic Times reported.
In India, passports issued to the citizens currently are printed on booklets. India initially issued 20,000 official and diplomatic e-passports on a trial basis with an electronic microprocessor chip embedded in them. After a successful run, it was set to begin the process for issuance of e-passports for all citizens.
“India Security Press, Nashik has awarded the contract for procurement of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)-compliant electronic contactless inlays along with its operating system necessary for chip-enabled e-Passports,” the ministry said in a statement in March last year.
Before that, the government said that all 36 passport offices in India would issue e-passports after the components of the personalisation system are integrated in the existing issuance process.
The external affairs ministry also announced in 2021 that the e-passports will follow the International Civil Aviation Organisation standards and will be harder to destroy.
The government had previously said these passports would be available to anyone seeking a reissuance or opt for applying for a new passport in 2021, but those plans were delayed.
