Electronic passports in the offing: Mukherjee

"I am glad to announce that the Ministry of External Affairs has initiated steps to issue e-passports or biometric passports," he said after inauguarting the first passport office of Uttarakhand here in presence of Chief Minister B C Khanduri.        

The new e-passport will carry the prescribed biological features and facial imprints of a holder and will be at par with international civil aviation standards, he said.        

 

In the first phase, such e-pasports will be issued in official and diplomatic categories. By next year, they will be issued in the ordinary passport category as well.