India launches 64-page machine-readable passport booklets

Indian Government has launched new Machine Readable Passports (MRP), a 64-page jumbo booklet that would help frequent overseas travellers.

Presenting the first copy of the MRP jumbo booklet to Chief Mentor of Infosys Technologies N R Narayana Murthy at a function in Bangalore on Saturday, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said the new machine-printed and machine-readable passport is twice the size of the previous passports.

“This has been done to help frequent travellers from the IT sector, businessmen and sportspersons”, he said.

Though the new passports were launched simultaneously at the passport offices in Ahmedabad, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai, besides Bangalore, Narayana Murthy became the first recipient as he had pushed the Federal Government hard for increasing the number of pages in the passport. “We took up this issue at Narayana Murthy’s insistence and now many businesses and people will benefit from it”, he said.

The number of Indians travelling abroad recording a phenomenal growth in recent times, Ahamed said.

The decision to introduce 64-page machine-readable passports was taken in view of the large number of applicants. “The Ministry decided to increase the number of pages due to a rapid increase in the number of applicants. The demand is likely to increase due to the growth of the IT sector”, Ahamed added.

Out of the 4.4 million passports issued by the Ministry of External Affairs during the year 2006, Ahamed said the Regional Passport Office in Bangalore accounted for 310,000, an increase of 40 per cent over 2005.

Though District Passport Centres had also been set up in different parts of Karnataka, the Regional Passport Office in Bangalore was catering to a major chunk of passport applicants from Karnataka. The District Passport Centres account for less than four percent of the passport applicants from Karnataka, he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs was planning to set up a full-fledged Regional Passport Office in Mangalore shortly to share the burden of Bangalore Passport office, he said.

Meanwhile, officials at Regional Passport Office in Bangalore said the Machine-written and machine-readable passports are a norm recommended by the international civil aviation organizations. The machine-written passports eliminate errors in filing personal particulars of the holder, make the passport more visually presentable and would markedly reduce forgeries. “They will also help cut down time taken at immigration counters”, an official said.