Number of Indian passport holders to cross 10cr soon: official

Expecting issuance of e-passports will be fully operational by 2023, a senior official on Tuesday said the total number of Indian passport holders will cross the 10 crore mark soon.

The waiting time for passport interviews has been reduced to next working day for Tatkaal and three working days for normal ones, the official said.

“Now 9.6 crore people have valid passports in India and the figure would cross the 10 crore mark very soon,” Regional Passport Officer Ashish Middha said at an interactive session with the Bharat Chamber of Commerce.

By 2023, issuance of e-passports is expected to get fully operational and currently e-passports are on a trial run, Middha was quoted as saying by the industry chamber in a statement.

He said that currently there are 144 permanent Indian Missions, including 41 concurrent Missions, across the globe.

To further expand its diplomatic footprint, India is set to open more Missions, including 10 in Africa, Middha said.

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