E-passports with embedded chips will be rolled out in 2022-23

E-passports with embedded chips and futuristic technology will be rolled out in 2022-23, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced at the Union Budget 2022. E-passports were first announced in 2019 and the government said that they are compliant with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) standards.

The issuance of Indian e-passports will take place soon, and the process to apply will be the same as the traditional passports. The e-passports will have an embedded chip that will contain all the personal information including the biographical details that are visible on page 2 of the passport. E-passports will also have a digital signature that is unique to each country and can be easily verified using a certificate.

The government has so far issued 20,000 official and diplomatic e-passports. This is the first time citizens of the country will be issued e-passports. The first e-passport in India was issued to the then President of India, Pratibha Patil in 2008.

India’s e-passports are expected to have thicker front and back covers, and will take a few seconds to read. A small silicon chip will be embedded in the back cover and it will have 64 kilobytes of memory which will contain the passport holder’s photograph and fingerprints. E-passports are also expected to store up to 30 visits.