🔗 Share this article

In recent months, an online clip by a popular travel content creator complaining about India's weak passport gained massive traction across digital platforms.

He mentioned although neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bhutan were more welcoming to travelers from India, securing travel permits to travel to most Western and European countries continued to be difficult.

This dissatisfaction regarding the limited global access of Indian passports was reflected in the latest global passport ranking, which placed the country at position eighty-five among nearly two hundred nations, a decline of five positions compared to the previous year.

The Indian government have not issued a statement on the report yet.

Nations like Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies than India – which is the fifth-largest economy globally – hold better positions in the ranking in the seventies range, in that order.

Actually, the country's position in the past decade has hovered around the eighties, falling to the 90th spot in 2021. These rankings are dismal when measured against Asian nations such as Singapore, Japan and South Korea, which have consistently held leading ranks.

Global Passport Power Indicates

Passport strength indicates a country's global influence and global influence. It also translates into enhanced travel freedom for its citizens, boosting business and educational prospects. Limited passport power means more paperwork, higher visa costs, fewer travel privileges and extended processing periods for travel.

But despite the decline in the rank, the number of countries providing visa-free travel to Indians has actually increased over the last ten years.

As an instance, in 2014 – when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – 52 countries provided visa-free access to Indians and its passport at seventy-sixth position on the index.

The following year, it tumbled to the 85th position, then rose to 80th over the past two years, declining once more to the eighty-fifth spot this year. Meanwhile, countries allowing visa-free travel to Indian citizens increased from 52 in 2015 to sixty last year and sixty-two this year.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The count of visa-free destinations in 2025 (57) is higher than what it was eight years ago (52), yet the country's position for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. So, why is that?

Analysts note that a primary factor involves growing competition in international travel – meaning countries are entering into additional travel agreements for their populations' advantage and their economies. According to a 2025 report, the worldwide mean number of destinations people can visit visa-free has almost doubled from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2025.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has expanded the number of visa-free countries its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 in the past decade. As a result, its rank on the index has improved from 94th to 60th in that same duration.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – previously positioned 77th on the index during summer – fell to eighty-fifth place in October after losing access to two countries.

Other Influences Impacting Passport Power

An ex-diplomat from India says multiple elements influencing a nation's passport power, like its economic and political stability plus its receptiveness to accepting travelers from abroad.

For instance, the American passport has dropped out from the top ten currently holding twelfth place – its lowest ever – due to its increasingly insular stance in world politics.

The former ambassador mentioned that during the seventies, Indian citizens had visa-free access to numerous European and Western nations, though this shifted following Sikh separatist movement in the 1980s. Subsequent political upheavals have further chipped away at India's image as a stable democracy.

"Numerous nations are also becoming increasingly wary regarding migrants," the diplomat added. "India has a large quantity of citizens emigrating overseas or remaining beyond visa limits and that interferes with the country's reputation."

Factors like how secure of a national passport and its immigration procedures also play a role to obtaining visa-free access to foreign nations.

Security and Technological Improvements

The Indian passport remains vulnerable to security risks. Last year, law enforcement arrested 203 people for suspected visa and passport fraud. India is also known for cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace of visa processing.

The former ambassador says that new technologies, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, can improve security and ease the immigration process. The e-passport contains a small chip holding biometric information, making it harder to forge or tamper with the passport.

But, increased diplomatic efforts and travel partnerships continue essential to boosting international travel freedom for Indian citizens and consequently, the Indian passport's global position.