Passport to get costlier from October

Come October and those seeking to get a passport made will have to shell out more. Owing to increase in expenditure, the Central government has decided to revise passport and related services fees from October 1, 2012.

An official communique from the Regional Passport Office (RPO) in Ahmedabad stated that according to the new fee structure, applicants getting a passport through normal process will have to pay Rs 500 more i.e. Rs1,500 instead of Rs1,000, the current fee.
 
Similarly, applicants seeking passport in tatkal category will have to shell out Rs 1,000 more and will have to pay Rs 3,500. The fee structure is also revised for citizens living abroad as they will now have to pay US$75 (from US$40), Euro 60 (from Euro 48) for passport through normal process.

The communique stated, “The current fee structure for passport came into force in 1993 subsequent to the passing of the Passport (Amendment) Bill, 1992 which permits the government to fix the passport fee on the basis of actual cost incurred on issuing of a passport.”

It further stated that in 1993, passport fee was fixed at Rs 300 which was increased to Rs1000 during the revision in 2002. Over the last ten years, costs relating to establishment, capital expenditure, procurement of equipment, reimbursement to police authorities, payment to India Posts, printing of passport booklets, personalisation costs, IT expenses and contractual payment to service providers have gone up considerably, which has necessitated increase in passport and related services fees, stated the communique.