India e-passports with an RFID chip

New and renewed Indian passports now carry an ICAO-compliant contactless chip (ISO/IEC 14443) holding the holder's data and biometrics; older paper passports stay valid until expiry, so mixed populations will persist for years. Border, airline and hotel document readers handling Indian travellers need ICAO e-passport chip reading.

India's e-passport is an HF RFID application: the chip is contactless to ISO/IEC 14443 and follows ICAO rules, which RFID News reported in April 2022 are set out in ICAO document 9303. We reported at the time that the passports would be produced by the Indian Security Press, which had tendered for the RFID tags.

The main effect is on readers. Every passport issued in India since 28 May 2025, and at Indian missions abroad since 28 October 2025, carries the chip, so border, airline and hotel systems handling Indian travellers need document readers able to read ICAO e-passport chips. Older paper passports stay valid until they expire, so readers will see both types for years.

When the scheme was announced in 2022, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said sample passports were being tested against the skimming vulnerability before launch.