Rs. 1,000-crore contract to TCS for quicker passports

NEW DELHI: The government on Monday said passports would be issued in just three days, once police verification was complete, with the awarding of a Rs. 1,000-crore contract to Tata Consultancy Services.

The project would gradually be rolled out countrywide, with citizens of Bangalore and Chandigarh being the first beneficiaries from June next. It is expected to be completed by January 2010.

Passports under the Tatkal (instant) scheme would be delivered in just one day. Apart from the reliance on software to bring the entire process online, the number of passport counters would be increased from 345 to 1,250, said official sources at a ceremony held to award the contract to TCS. This is the latest initiative by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) to simplify issuance of passports. It earlier raised the fees for various services, reduced the number of requirements, pared the application form, enabled online tracking of the passport and permitted select police stations to accept application forms.

“The sovereign and fiduciary function of granting and issuing passport remains with the MEA and TCS will be our technology and operations partner in this project,” said Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said.

Mr. Menon said the project was imperative because as against 50 lakh passports issued last year, the Ministry expected the number of applicants to double in the next three years.
Technology partner

The software company would provide only support functions such as improving citizen interface, managing the technology backbone, call centres, training and change management. The government would continue to exercise all sovereign and security-related functions in the issuance process. Security aspects were fully taken care of in the project with the government owning all strategic assets including the data centre, database and the application software, Mr. Menon said.

The MEA has started issuing e-passports, also known as biometric passports, in the diplomatic and official categories since June 2008, and full rollout of e-passports in the ordinary category will be done by September 2009. The e-passports will be much safer against forgery and will further facilitate the movement of their holders through the border points equipped with e-passport reading machines.

“After implementation of the project, which will be managed end to end by TCS, the ministry expects that the process of issuing a new passport will be completed in three working days while passports issued under the Tatkal scheme will be dispatched the same day, subject to address and police verification of applicants,” explained TCS CEO and managing director S. Ramadorai. The TCS would open 77 new fully computerised passport seva kendras across the country by January 2010.

Communication between the police and the passport office would also be done online and a secure network is being created. Bangalore and Chandigarh would get the new kendras by June 2009 on a pilot basis.