International passengers departing Indian airports will no longer need their boarding passes stamped at immigration counters from September 1, according to a directive from the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) under the Ministry of Home Affairs, cited by multiple reports.

Passengers flying out of Indian airports will no longer be required to carry a physical boarding pass, as immigration authorities have decided to do away with the stamping of the document from September 1. Instead, passengers travelling abroad will have to produce an e-boarding pass on their smartphones for immigration clearance, officials said.

The BOI communicated the directive to airport authorities after finding that physical stamping of boarding passes for immigration purposes was causing inconvenience to passengers and that errors were being reported due to improper or incorrect stamping.

Physical boarding passes will still be accepted at immigration counters, but they will no longer be stamped. The change applies only to the immigration stamp—travelers who prefer a printed boarding pass can still use one as a backup, which is particularly useful if a phone has a dead battery, poor connectivity, or a damaged screen.

The communication was sent to key stakeholders, including international airport operators and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). CISF has not stamped boarding passes during passenger frisking for several years, a practice discontinued for both domestic and international travellers, with boarding passes used only for verification during security checks. Airport operators and aviation stakeholders have been asked to brief their staff on the new procedure ahead of implementation.

Officials said the BOI is separately planning to end immigration entry and exit stamping for Indian passport holders as well, with a pilot project under way ahead of a wider rollout across the country's airports.

Sources: The Hindu/Hindustan Times/PTI