India To Soon Introduce Next-Gen E-Passport, To Enable Smooth Passage Through Immigration Posts Globally: MEA

In a significant development, the Central government will soon start issuing e-passports for Indian citizens.

"India to soon introduce next-gen ePassport for citizens," said Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

According to the MEA secretary, these e-passports will be secured with biometric data and will pave the way for the smooth passage of passengers through immigration posts across the world.

There will be a microchip embedded in the passport and it will carry the important information of the passport holder's biometric data. The chip will further have an internationally recognised logo for e-passports, reports Economic Times.

Other security features included in the chip will prohibit unauthorised transfer of data via the radio-frequency identification (RFID).

Though passports are largely rolled out as personalised printed booklets currently, the Centre had run a trial version of e-passports by issuing 20,000 of them for diplomatic and official purposes.

All the 36 passport offices in the country under the MEA will issue these e-passports.

As per the report, earlier there were plans to incorporate this system back in 2021 itself. However, the implementation was delayed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.