Indian citizens most likely to get hassle free e-passport from next year

ndian nationals are likely to get e-passport embedded with a microchip from 2021 onwards. After running the trial on about 20,000 diplomats’ passports, the centre is all set to launch the e-passport facility for the common citizens.

It will make passports difficult to forge, besides facilitating immigration process faster for international passengers.

To implement the project, the government has started searching for an IT firm. The National Informatics Centre which is working with the Ministry of External Affairs, has issued a Request for Proposal on Wednesday to select an agency to set up an IT infrastructure and solution for e-passports.

A dedicated setup will be established to enable issuance of 10,000 to 20,000 e-passports per hour. The IT centers to handle the total operation will be set up at Delhi and Chennai.

The e-passport facility will be available at all 36 passport centers of the country.