- Passport fees have been increased by 67%, marking the first revision in 14 years.
- The government says rising service delivery and operational costs made the hike necessary.
- A fresh 36-page passport now costs Rs 2,500, up from Rs 1,500 earlier.
Passport fees are revised from time to time after comprehensive review of the cost of providing passport and related services, operational requirements, and service delivery improvements, and the recent hike in fees by 67 per cent, has come after 14 years, the Lok Sabha was informed Friday.
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The "increase in the cost of various inputs and service delivery" over the 14 years since the last revision in 2012 "made it necessary to revise the passport fees", Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh said in a written response to a query.
The government recently revised the passport fee structure through an amendment to the Passports Rules, 1980, increasing application fee for an ordinary fresh passport containing 36 pages from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,500. The new rules came into force with effect from July 1, 2026.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was asked whether the government has undertaken any cost study, regulatory impact assessment or affordability assessment before revising passport and related service fees under the Passports (Amendment) Rules, 2026.
"Passport fees are revised from time to time after a comprehensive review of the cost of providing passport and related services, operational requirements, and service delivery improvements," Singh said.
Earlier, passport fees were revised in 1971, 1980, 1993, 2002 and 2012, and now in 2026, the MoS said.
A number of initiatives have been taken for improvement of passport services including implementation of upgraded Passport Seva Programme (PSP) Version 2.0 and e-Passport, which has enhanced the quality, security and efficiency of passport services, while increasing the cost of service delivery, the Centre said.
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"For reference purposes, it was increased 67 per cent over 4 years in 1971; 100 per cent over 9 years in 1980; 500 per cent over 13 years in 1993; 233 per cent over 9 years in 2002 and 50 per cent over 10 years in 2012.
"Provisions for Passport applications being accompanied by prescribed fee are in Section 5(1) of the Passports Act 1967 and Rule 8 of the Passports Rules 1980," Singh said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
