Parliament Question: Consular services

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 143 ANSWERED ON 12.02.2026 CONSULAR SERVICES

143. DR. V. SIVADASAN

Will the Minister of EXTERNAL AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

(a) the average time taken for passport renewal, OCI-related services and issuance of Emergency Certificates during the last three years, year-wise;

(b) the average time taken for disposal of grievances received through Mission-level mechanisms and the MADAD portal during the said period, year-wise; and

(c) whether Government has prescribed service delivery timelines for these services and if so, the steps taken to ensure adherence to such timelines across Missions? ANSWER THE EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER (DR. SUBRAHMANYAM JAISHANKAR) (a to c) A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

1STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (C) OF THE RAJYA SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 143 FOR REPLY ON 12.02.2026 REGARDING CONSULAR SERVICES ASKED BY DR. V. SIVADASAN

(a) The average time taken (in days) for passport renewal and issuance of Emergency Certificates by Passport Issuing Authorities (PIA), year-wise for the last three years, is as follows:- Passport Renewal Emergency Year Certificate Normal cases Tatkaal cases 2023 10 3 2 2024 16 3 2 2025 15 4 2 The average time taken for issuance of OCI registration booklet is usually about 30 days from the date of verification of all the supporting documents by Indian Mission/Post abroad and acknowledgement of the application on the online system.

(b) Indian Missions/Posts abroad have a multi-channel mechanism to address public grievances which includes emergency helplines, walk-ins, emails, social media, 24x7 multilingual helpline, open houses, consular camps and MADAD.

In pursuance of "Good Governance" initiatives, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) launched MADAD, an online Consular Grievances Management System, on 21 February 2015 to help Indian nationals abroad in need of consular assistance. MADAD portal enables aggrieved persons to register, track and obtain time-bound, transparent and accountable resolution of their complaints from anywhere in the world.

All Indian Missions/Posts abroad and the MEA's Branch Secretariats in Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Kolkata, are associated with MADAD Portal for consular grievance tracking and follow-up.

MADAD portal incorporates several innovative features such as a flexible architecture to handle a variety of grievances, online filing and linking of similar grievances for easier retrieval and reference, automated escalation and enhancement of priority, colour-coded dash boards for easy assessment and monitoring, and has an associated call centre to help illiterate grievants. A mobile App for MADAD has also been launched.

The grievances registered on MADAD mostly relate to repatriation of Indian nationals abroad, whereabouts of missing persons, arrest/detention abroad, transportation of mortal remains, death/accidental compensations, marital disputes, child abduction, labour disputes involving outstanding salary and leave etc. The grievances are disposed of as expeditiously as possible and monitored systematically. However, given the complex nature of the grievances in most cases, requiring Missions/Posts to coordinate and liaise closely with authorities in foreign countries viz. host government, law enforcement, judiciary, business entities etc, the resolution is dependent on these third-parties, and therefore it is not possible to specify timelines for disposal.

2The number of grievances registered and resolved through MADAD Portal during the last three years (2023-2025) is as follows:

Year Grievance Brought forward Total Grievance Pending Received from previous Grievance Resolved year 2023 5794 3343 9137 5474 3663 2024 5704 3663 9367 5467 3900 2025 6158 3900 10058 6454 3604

(c) The prescribed service delivery timelines are as follows:

Passport For Fresh issue For Re-issue For Tatkaal Up to 30 working days Up to 7 working days in cases Up to 3 working days subject (Police Verification (PV) where pre-police verification to the condition that the period excluded) is not required and up to 30 applicant is eligible for issue of working days in cases where passport under the Tatkaal PV is required [PV period Scheme. Upto 7 working days excluded] (Police Verification (PV) period excluded) Further, to ensure adherence to such timelines across Missions, Passport Seva Programme

(PSP) 2.0 provides seamless workflow and integration amongst various users for smooth and fast application processing. In addition, training is provided to the users on frequent basis for better understanding and utilization of the PSP system.

Emergency Certificate Emergency Certificate is a one-way travel document issued by Indian Missions/Posts abroad to Indian nationals to enable travel to India. There is no timeline specified for issuance of Emergency Certificate as this service is typically required in cases of urgency and, is processed and issued in 1-2 days of the application being accepted.

OCI related services The OCI applications are processed as per guidelines issued by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). The applications are processed by Missions/Posts abroad within 1-2 days of the submission of the signed 3application and supporting documents by the applicants. The issuance of the OCI card generally takes around 30 days during which applications are scrutinized and cleared by MHA for granting.

Adherence to service delivery timelines is given utmost importance by the Ministry. Steps to ensure this include imparting of training in consular services on regular basis to all officials who are posted to Missions/Posts abroad and Passport Offices and continuous monitoring of the consular services delivery timelines by the respective Missions/Posts and Passport Offices so that undue delays are avoided. MADAD portal also caters to addressing delays in service delivery timelines, whenever such cases are filed through the portal.

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