For Indian citizens applying for a passport, the waiting period is not uniform across the country. Recent data from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) highlights significant geographical disparities in processing times under the normal category in 2025. The average issuance time ranged from a swift four to five working days in states like Goa and parts of Kerala to a prolonged 40 working days in Chhattisgarh's Raipur region.
Regional Disparities in Passport Processing
Even within individual states, variations persist across different Regional Passport Offices (RPOs). In Karnataka, the Bengaluru RPO exhibited a mixed trend. While it managed to issue passports in an average of just seven days in 2023, the timeline extended to 15 days in 2025. This increase suggests a surge in demand rather than a procedural slowdown.
Southern Efficiency
Southern India continues to demonstrate relatively efficient processing. Kerala remains among the fastest, with RPOs in Cochin and Kozhikode averaging about five working days for normal category passports. Tamil Nadu also performed well, with Chennai averaging 11 days. However, Coimbatore experienced a longer wait of over 20 days, nearly double its 2023 timeframe.
Western Contrasts
Western India presents a contrasting picture. Goa leads the nation with an impressive four-day average. In Maharashtra, however, large urban centers show signs of strain. Mumbai issued passports in approximately 10 days in 2025, while Nagpur averaged 22 days, and Pune took more than 12 days.
Eastern and Central Delays
Eastern and central regions face more extended waits. Odisha's Bhubaneswar RPO averaged 32 days in 2025, though this marked an improvement from 40 days in 2024. Chhattisgarh's Raipur remains the slowest, reaching 40 days for the normal category.
Tatkaal Service: Faster but Uneven
The Tatkaal service generally offers quicker turnaround times, typically within one to six working days across states. However, disparities exist here as well. For instance, Raipur took up to 14 days under Tatkaal in 2025. In contrast, states like Goa, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu cleared Tatkaal passports in one to three days, while Karnataka averaged four days.
Police Verification: A Major Bottleneck
Although police verification is excluded from official passport issuance timelines, applicants report increasing delays at this stage. As of December 1, 2025, nearly 2.8 lakh applications across India were awaiting police verification for more than 30 days.
State-wise Pending Applications
- Maharashtra alone accounted for over 1.2 lakh pending applications.
- Jammu and Kashmir followed with more than 56,000.
- West Bengal had nearly 29,500 pending.
- Manipur recorded over 15,000.
In contrast, Gujarat, Goa, and Himachal Pradesh reported fewer than 50 pending applications each, while Karnataka had around 800.
The MEA has emphasized efforts to streamline this process. The launch of the mPassport app has enabled expeditious submission of the Police Verification Report (PVR), digitally and directly from the police station itself, according to the ministry.
Grievances and Fraud Prevention
Grievance data from 2023 to 2025 reveals that the single largest category of complaints nationwide related to police verification reports not being completed or passports not issued even after PVR receipt, accounting for more than 76,000 complaints.
Despite some states reporting quick issuance times, the MEA assures that speed has not compromised scrutiny. Over the past five years, 1,343 complaints were received regarding individuals fraudulently obtaining multiple passports. All such cases resulted in impounding or revocation under the Passports Act, 1967.
The ministry notes that the upgraded Passport Seva Project 2.0 has introduced stronger duplicate-detection mechanisms to address this risk effectively.
