Union Budget 2022 | What are e-passports and how will they work?

While presenting her Budget speech on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government will roll out e-passports in FY22-23.

"The issuance of e-passports will be rolled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for citizens," Sitharaman said as part of her Budget speech today.

Sanjay Bhattacharyya, Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs, had recently said that India could soon start issuing e-passports that will use radio-frequency identification (RFID) and biometrics.

Bhattacharyya had said that the new passports would significantly ease passage through immigration check-ins and will be compliant with the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

The jackets of the new passports are expected to include an electronic chip with vital security information encoded on it.

But how is an e-passport different from a regular passport?

While an e-passport looks just like a regular passport, it comes with a small electronic chip, similar to those seen in drivers' licences.

The microchip is expected to store all the information that is printed on the passport, including the name, date of birth, address, parents' names, and other details.

The electronic chip will help immigration counters to quickly verify details of travellers, reduce congestion at airports and also reduce the circulation of fake passports.

The electronic passports will be scanned with a chip reader, rather than an optical reader that is used for passports at the moment.

Industry reaction 

Announcement of the rollout of e-passports has been hailed by the travel and tourism industry as it is expected to help revive international travel.

"International travel is likely to recover soon despite the progress being slowed by the pandemic. The introduction of innovative initiatives like e-passports will boost security and enhance the convenience of international travellers by cutting down long queues at immigration counters. This will help support a faster revival of international travel in a pandemic-driven environment," said Aloke Bajpai, Group CEO and Co-founder, Ixigo.

Similarly, Rikant Pittie, Co-founder, EaseMyTrip, said e-passports with embedded chips will provide a big boost to travel and add a level of convenience for international travellers.

"Additionally, the expansion of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore will enable small travel operators and various industry stakeholders to reel back from the disruptive impact of the pandemic," Pitti said.