India's e-passports: How chip tech is making travel smoother
India's rolling out e-passports with secure RFID chips—around one crore (as of 18 Jan 2026) issued since May 2025, now covering 10% of passport holders.
These chips store your photo and fingerprints, letting you breeze through immigration with quick, contactless checks.
The plan is for everyone to have an e-passport by June 2035.
What's cool about these new passports?
The chip only wakes up near scanners, so your privacy stays protected.
Biometrics are double-checked on a central server to stop fraud, and that little gold symbol on the cover means your passport meets global standards—accepted in over 100 countries.
Why should you care?
E-passports mean faster airport lines—India now issues about 45,000 daily at home and 8,000 abroad.
No extra fees for upgrades; just apply as usual and get the new tech by default.
Plus, India's passport power just got a boost: you can visit 55 countries visa-free or with visa-on-arrival now.