🔗 Share this article

In recent months, an online clip from a popular travel content creator complaining about the limited power of the Indian passport gained massive traction across digital platforms.

He mentioned although nearby nations such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan offered easier access of travelers from India, securing travel permits for visiting most Western and European countries remained a challenge.

This dissatisfaction regarding India's poor passport strength was reflected in recent global passport ranking, ranking the country in the 85th spot out of 199 countries, five spots lower compared to the previous year.

Officials in India has not commented regarding these findings so far.

Countries like Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies than India – a nation that is the fifth-largest economy globally – are ranked higher in the ranking at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.

In fact, India's rank over the last ten years has hovered around the eighties, falling to ninetieth place two years ago. These rankings appear poor compared to Asian nations like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, all maintaining leading ranks.

Global Passport Power Indicates

The power of a passport indicates a country's global influence and international standing. It also translates into better mobility for its citizens, improving commercial and educational prospects. Limited passport power means more paperwork, higher visa costs, fewer travel privileges and longer waiting times when journeying.

However, even with the decline in the rank, the count of nations providing visa-free travel for Indian citizens has grown in the past decade or so.

As an instance, in 2014 – the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party came to power – 52 countries provided visa-free access to Indians and its passport at seventy-sixth position in the ranking.

The following year, it fell to the 85th position, then improved to 80th over the past two years, declining once more to the 85th position this year. Meanwhile, countries allowing visa-free travel for Indians grew from fifty-two eight years ago to sixty last year and 62 in 2024.

The Competitive Global Mobility Landscape

The number of nations allowing visa-free entry in 2025 (57) exceeds the number in 2015 (fifty-two), but the country's position for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. So, why is that?

Experts say that a primary factor is the increasingly competitive landscape in global mobility – meaning nations are entering into more travel partnerships for their populations' advantage and their economies. As per recent analysis, the global average number of destinations travellers are able to access without visas has nearly doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to one hundred nine currently.

For example, The Chinese passport has expanded the number of visa-free destinations available to its citizens from 50 to 82 in the past decade. As a result, its position in the ranking has enhanced from ninety-fourth to sixtieth in that same duration.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – previously positioned 77th on the index in July – fell to the 85th position in October after losing access to two countries.

Other Influences Impacting Passport Power

A former Indian ambassador says multiple elements that affect the strength of a country's passport, like its economic and political stability as well as its openness to welcoming citizens from abroad.

For instance, the US passport has fallen of the top 10 and now occupies twelfth place – its lowest ever – because of its more inward-looking approach in world politics.

The former ambassador mentioned that during the seventies, Indians enjoyed visa-free travel to many Western and European countries, though this shifted after the Khalistan movement in the 1980s. Subsequent political upheavals have continued to damage at India's image as a stable, democratic country.

"Numerous nations are also becoming more cautious of immigrants," the diplomat added. "The country possesses a large quantity of people migrating to other countries or overstaying their visas and that interferes with the national image."

Elements like the security level a country's passport is and its immigration procedures also contribute in gaining visa-free access to other countries.

Security and Technological Improvements

India's passport remains vulnerable to security risks. Last year, authorities arrested over two hundred individuals for suspected visa and passport fraud. India is also known for complex immigration processes and a slow pace of visa processing.

The former ambassador indicated that new technologies, like India's recently-launched electronic passport or e-passport, can improve security and ease the immigration process. This electronic document includes a microchip holding biometric data, making it harder to counterfeit or alter the document.

However, more diplomatic outreach and travel agreements remain key for enhancing international travel freedom of Indians and, by extension, India's passport ranking.