Indian government is planning to issue e-passports to citizens starting the financial year 2022-23. The information was said by the Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan in Rajya Sabha.
Muraleedharan was asked about the government’s plan for issuing e-passports in the calendar year 2022 and its details in the upper house of the Parliament.
The passport’s critical information will be printed on its data page as well as stored in the chip. The characteristics of the document and the chip are specified in International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) document 9303, said Muraleedharan.
Further, He said that the Ministry of External Affairs has entrusted the National Informatics Centre (NIC) with the technical responsibilities in the context of the issuance of e-passports.
The minister stated that the e-passport will be a combined paper and electronic passport and will have an embedded Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chip, along with an antenna embedded as an inlay in the back cover.