At New Delhi, Mumbai & Bengaluru airports, biometrics set to rev up immigration checks
New Delhi: The government is planning to roll out a faster biometrics-based process for international passengers to speed up immigration checks as part of the strategy to develop India's airports as global transit hubs.
The New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru airports will introduce automated immigration clearances, allowing international entries and departures without physical passport verification, people aware of the details told ET.
Authentication would be via face recognition or fingerprints.
Last week, civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia discussed plans with the chairman of the Airport Authority of India (AAI) and chief executives of private airports, and asked if the DigiYatra app could be used. Currently, domestic air passengers can use DigiYatra to save time via a paperless process.
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The DigiYatra project is run by a private non-profit body, Digi Yatra Foundation, owned by AAI and private airports.
«We are currently working on the prototype for electronic passport-based enrolment. Testing is in progress,» Suresh Khadakbhavi, chief executive of Digi Yatra Foundation, told ET.
«We will also work with the Bureau of Immigration and visa-issuing agencies for enabling this service for international visitors flying in and out of India.»
First-time visitors to India would need to enrol and clear immigration with iris, facial and fingerprint biometrics at the manual counters. During departure, they would be able to use the automated clearance route.
On their subsequent trips, they will also be cleared with iris and facial biometrics at the manual counters if they use the same passport.
Khadakbhavi said this will be rolled out for international passengers initially, with
