Passport deal of Indian firms with Nepal regarding the security facets of Nepali passport has seen a back out, courtesy some unfavorable conditions. Reports say that Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Ltd (SPMCIL) is the firm which was given the assignment to print modern Nepali passports, but courtesy some political issues, the deal faced a major back out at the last moment.

In addition to this, reports say that the contract was to make machine readable passports, but some how the deal could not be commenced. The protest against the deal was done by some Maoists as well as officials from the parliamentary committee on the issue that the deal has been handed over to the Indian firm and would cause concerns for the Nepalese security! As a result of the protest, the Nepal government had to cancel the deal.

It has been reported that the foreign ministry called for the bidding process last month and the two Indian firms were included in the 16 overseas bidders who went in for the bidding process. In the end, just four firms were left. These include De La Rue from Britain, 3M Technologies from Singapore, Perum Peruri from Indonesia and Oberthur Technologies from France. Series of report coming in from the venue say that the French firm is likely to win the contract as its bid is favorable.

The series of fake Nepal passports have been increasing on a gradual number. Hence, the need for an authentic passport procedure is a must.