India to get e-passports in 2008

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 20 March 2007, 17:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Indian citizens can look forward to having biometric passports or e-passports by 2008, according to Anand Sharma, Union Minister of State for External Affairs. The minister, while pointing out that several countries have been incorporating biometric information in their passports to ensure tighter security, stated that the e-passports would be valid for 10 years. A system for issuing biometric passports would be put in place by the end of this year, an agency report said. E-Passports being issued in Australia and New Zealand contain contactless chips with biographic and biometric information. Tests which assess the operational impact of using new equipment and software to read and verify the information embedded in the e-Passports has already begun in the respective countries.