India launches chip-enabled e‑passports to boost security and border processing

India’s Ministry of External Affairs emphasized that a passport is a travel document, not proof of citizenship, and highlighted the nation’s recent rollout of chip‑enabled e‑passports. In the past year the government delivered nearly 14 million passports through 545 Passport Kendras, and since the e‑passport launch issued about 14.7 million RFID‑chip passports that store biometric data and personal details on an encrypted chip.

The embedded chip makes passports harder to counterfeit and speeds up verification at immigration, especially where automated gates are used. Applicants continue to use the existing Passport Seva Portal and appointment system; the new passports bear a small electronic symbol but function like traditional ones, and existing passports remain valid until expiry. The government also noted recent reforms to Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) services, which grant multiple‑entry, lifelong visas without conferring full citizenship.