The Passport Seva (Passport Service) unit of the Consular, Passport & Visa (CPV) Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, functions as the central passport organisation, and is responsible for issuing Indian passports on demand to all eligible Indian citizens. Indian passports are issued at 93 passport offices located across India and at 162 Indian diplomatic missions abroad.
In 2015, India issued about 12 million passports, a number exceeded only by China and United States. Approximately 65 million Indians held valid passports as of the end of 2015.
