HIGHLIGHTS:
• The government plans to start issuing e-passports to its residents in 2022-23
• The e-passport will be a hybrid paper and electronic passport with an embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip
• e-passports would be printed by India Security Press in Nashik
The e-passport will be a hybrid paper and electronic passport with an embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip and antenna embedded as an inlay in the back cover, according to the Ministry of State. V Muraleedharan, Union Minister of State for External Affairs, stated that the government plans to start issuing e-passports to its residents in 2022-23.
Muraleedharan made his remarks in the Rajya Sabha in response to a query on the government’s plans for e-passport issuing in the calendar year 2022 and the details.
The e-passport will be a hybrid paper and electronic passport with an embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip and antenna embedded as an inlay in the back cover, according to the Ministry of State.
Muraleedharan statement
“The vital information on the passport’s data page will be printed as well as kept in the chip. “International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) document 9303 specifies the properties of the document and the chip,” Muraleedharan explained.
The Ministry of External Affairs has delegated the technical responsibility for the issuance of e-passports to the National Informatics Centre (NIC), according to Muraleedharan.
Who will print the e-passports?
“The e-passports would be printed by India Security Press in Nashik, which has issued letters of intent for the procurement of 4.5 crore ICAO-compliant electronic chips and its operating system,” he said.
The Ministry of State notified the upper house that sample e-passports are presently being evaluated, and full-scale manufacturing and distribution will begin once the technical eco-system and infrastructure are completed.
