E–Passport: The Ministry of External Affairs has started issuing e-passports in some of its regional offices as a pilot project. Now there is confusion among people about what will happen to the old passports. Many passport agents and brokers are taking advantage of this and spreading misinformation that old passports are no longer valid. For their own benefit, the agents are misleading the citizens by making them believe that they have to immediately replace their existing valid passport with an e-passport.
In such a situation, the Pune Regional Passport Office has cautioned citizens. An official said, “Wrong information is spreading among people. Citizens with valid passports for many years are being told that their documents are no longer valid because ‘passport’ offices are now issuing e-passports. Some vested interests – some agents who want to make new applicants – are spreading such misinformation.”
The Pune Regional Passport Office (RPO) has started issuing e-passports from the first week of May 2025, making it one of the major passport offices in India to implement the new technology under the Passport Seva Programme 2.0. “All the passports we are issuing from the first week of May are e-passports,” the RPO official said.
Pune Regional Passport Office chief said that citizens should not fall for these misleading claims. As long as the old passports are not damaged or invalid, they are perfectly acceptable for use. People who genuinely need a new passport or whose passport has expired or the documents are damaged should apply for an e-passport. Citizens should not apply to get an e-passport in place of the old passport.
What the Ministry of External Affairs says
According to the Ministry of External Affairs, all passports issued under the previous Passport Seva Programme 1.0 are fully valid and can be used for travel purposes, subject to the normal validity period and other provisions under the Passport Act, 1967.
Difference between e-passport and old passport
E-passports have been introduced in many passport offices of the country under the Passport Seva Program 2.0. The e-passport is still like a regular passport with an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip in the booklet, which stores passport data. Officials say the term e-passport does not mean that it can be downloaded on a mobile phone or any digital device, but it is still a booklet. The only difference is that it has a chip. The cover page of the booklet has a distinctive chip logo, though the actual chip is located on a separate page inside.
Similar to the chip technology used in debit cards, this chip technology enables automatic identity verification at immigration counters and makes passports unviable.