MEA selects TCS for second phase of Passport Seva Program

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has selected the IT services behemoth Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for the second phase of the Passport Seva program, the country’s largest e-governance programme till date.
 
Under this partnership, TCS will refresh existing facilities and systems, develop innovative new solutions to enable issuance of e-passports. The Mumbai-based IT firm will also enhance the user experience via technologies like biometrics, artificial intelligence, advance data analytics, chatbots, auto-response, natural language processing and the cloud, as per a TCS release.
 
“TCS has been playing a vital role in building a Digital India, driving transformation programs of national importance. Our partnership with MEA over the last decade has become a benchmark in public-private partnership for citizen services. We are pleased to be selected for the next phase of the Passport Seva Program and look forward to driving further innovations and improving citizen experiences using our contextual knowledge and digital technologies,” Public Sector Business Unit Head at TCS Tej Bhatia said.
 
This, however, is not the first time that TCS has worked on the Passport Seva program, which was launched in 2008.  In its previous phase, TCS saw the transformation of passport-related services, digitising the processes and setting global standards in timeliness, transparency and reliability.
 
“Ministry of External Affairs today signed an agreement for the second phase of the Passport Seva Programme with Tata Consultancy Services Limited, our valued partner, appointing them as the Service Provider for the project,” the MEA said.

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