Long gone are the days of travelling with a traditional Indian passport. Now, Indians can apply for the newly launched e-passport. The Ministry of External Affairs has introduced this initiative as part of the Passport Seva Programme (PSP) Version 2.0. This modernisation of the Indian passport is a big step towards unlocking a smoother travelling experience. The main goal of these new passports is to help avoid duplication of passport holders’ data.
What is an E-Passport?
These new e-passports will have a combination of traditional paper documentation with a secure, electronic chip. Your new passport will come with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Chip. This chip will hold your personal information and biometric details.
Benefits of E-Passports
Here are all the benefits you will be able to gain with their new passport!
- Data Protection: One of the key benefits of being an e-passport holder will be full protection of your personal information. The Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) ensure that the sensitive data of the chip remains encrypted. Due to this, your data can’t be accessed or altered by any unauthorised parties.
- Enhanced Security: Since this new passport has a digitally signed chip, the risk of forgery, passport duplication and identity theft is reduced.
- Seamless Travel Experience: With these new e-passports, your travel experience will become smoother as the authentication of the passport will be easier. This will be possible all thanks to the availability of the chip in your passport.
Where to get an E-passport from?
The government is currently issuing e-passports in only 13 cities. These cities are Amritsar, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jammu, Nagpur, Raipur and Ranchi. The facility of e-passport will be available at all Passport Offices across India soon. The phase-wise roll-out of the e-passport will take a few months.
Getting these e-passports isn’t mandatory for passport holders as of now. You don’t need to worry about getting this e-passport immediately. All passports issued by the authority will still remain valid.
