Chandigarh : As per the existing provisions, only Passbook/ Statement of bank account of Public Sector Banks was accepted as one of the valid documents for proof of address for submitting a Passport application. The Ministry has been receiving references for inclusion of photo passbook issued by the scheduled Private Indian Banks as well as Regional Rural Banks in addition to scheduled Public Sector Banks for address proof.
The matter has been examined in the Ministry and it has been decided that henceforth passbooks containing photo of applicants issued by following categories of banks authorized by the Reserve Bank of India will be accepted as proof of address and photo identity:
a) Scheduled Public Sector Banks;
b) Scheduled Private Sector Indian Banks; and
c) Regional Rural Banks.
Disclosing this Rakesh Agrawal Regional Passport officer Chandigarh told that now the applicants can submit the passbook of private banks like HDFC, AXIS, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, yes banks etc and many other private banks as well as Gramin banks for address proof. This will greatly help the applicants.
In case of any doubt about the status and name of any particular bank, the same may be ascertained from the updated website of the Reserve Bank of India.