E-passports with chips to be rolled out this fiscal

The government will start issuing e-passports with embedded chips during the next financial year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday, even as she proposed to allocate Rs 17,250 crore for the Ministry of External Affairs in the 2022-23 financial year.

"The issuance of e-Passports using embedded chip and futuristic technology will be rolled out in 2022-23 to enhance convenience for the citizens in their overseas travel,” Sitharaman said, presenting the Union Budget in the Lok Sabha.

The Budget proposed an allocation of Rs 17,250 crore for the MEA, slightly higher than the 2021-22 Revised Estimate of Rs 16,000 crore, but lower than the last year’s Budget Estimate of Rs 18,154 crore.

The budgetary allocation for the MEA includes Rs 6,292.30 crore earmarked for providing financial assistance and supporting development infrastructure to other countries, including Rs 200 crore for Afghanistan, where the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. Though New Delhi has not yet recognised the interim government of the Taliban, it started sending humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. India had earlier spent $3 billion in reconstruction of war-ravaged Afghanistan since 2001 till 2021.

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