In a major push towards digital governance, the Government of India has launched the e-OCI Card, enabling Overseas Citizens of India (OCI) to carry their OCI credentials digitally instead of relying on the traditional physical booklet. Union Home Minister Amit Shah unveiled the initiative in New Delhi, making the new facility available to more than 50 lakh OCI cardholders across the world.
With the introduction of the e-OCI Card, cardholders can now download their OCI credentials to their mobile phones and present them at immigration checkpoints and airline counters whenever required. The existing physical OCI booklet will continue to remain valid, and there is no requirement to surrender it.
The new system also simplifies one of the most cumbersome aspects of OCI documentation. Earlier, cardholders were required to obtain a new OCI booklet whenever they received a new passport after the age of 20. Under the revised process, they only need to update their passport details online, eliminating the need for repeated reissuance of the booklet.
Existing OCI cardholders can access their digital card by logging into the OCI Services Portal using their registered credentials. Those who have not registered can create an account using the email address linked to their original OCI application. Once logged in, users can generate and download the e-OCI Card and save it on their mobile devices for future use.
The digital initiative is expected to reduce paperwork, minimise the risk of losing or damaging physical documents, and speed up identity verification and immigration clearance for OCI cardholders worldwide.
Alongside the e-OCI Card, Amit Shah also launched the FCRA 2.0 Portal, a fully digital compliance platform for organisations registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act. The upgraded portal supports online applications, renewals, annual returns, and integrates Aadhaar authentication, e-Sign, OCR-based document verification, and databases such as PAN, Aadhaar, OCI, and NGO Darpan.
The government expects the platform to benefit nearly 14,500 FCRA-registered organisations by reducing paperwork and improving transparency. It has also announced plans to introduce an FCRA mobile application, an AI-powered chatbot, and a dedicated online dashboard for banks as part of its continued digital governance initiatives.
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