Passport and related services fees hiked

Government has decided to increase the Passport and related services fees from Rs 1000 to Rs 1500 under the normal category and from Rs 2500 to Rs 3500 under Tatkal scheme, a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs Ministry said tonight.

The Passport and related services were last fixed on March 29, 2002.

For Indian citizens living abroad, the revised fee would be USD 75.00 (from 40.00) and Euro 60.00 (from 48.00) for normal applications.

The statement said the hike was necessitated by considerable increase in the last ten years in inputs costs relating to establishment, capital expenditure, procurement of equipment, reimbursement to police authorities, payment to India Posts, printing of passport booklets, personalization costs, IT expenses and contractual payment to service providers.

The current regime of Passport fee came into force in July, 1993 subsequent to the passing of the Passport (Amendment) Bill, 1992 which permits the government to fix the Passport fee on the basis of actual cost incurred on issuing of a Passport.