Electronic passports, courtesy IIT-K (IIT Kanpur)

Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, has joined hands with the passport department to come out with tamper-proof electronic passports. The diplomats and officials, in the first phase, would get the electronic passports from the third week of May.

"The tender for electronic passports would be opened by April end. Private companies have started approaching us to know if they could also use them," Rajat Moona of the IIT-K's computer science and engineering department said. He said IIT-K experts and students have developed the temper-proof passport with assistance of National Informatics Centre, New Delhi.

The passport will have in-built processor and chip. "Unlike other countries, we have defined the standard of writing information on the electronic chip embedded inside the passport. Other countries rely on private companies for the job," Moona said. He said 40 countries, around the world, are using the electronic passports.

"The IIT-K's electronic passport would be different. To counter any possibility of tampering, the passport office would store the information in the chip with IIT-K's assistance," he said, adding, "The chip would contain vital information on the user, including photograph and finger prints, to prevent misuse."

He said electronic passports' introduction would end the menace of fake passports.