The Reasons Behind India's Indian Passport Is Falling in Global Ranking

In recent months, a video by an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over the limited power of the Indian passport gained massive traction across digital platforms.

He mentioned that while nearby nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka were more welcoming to travelers from India, securing travel permits for visiting many nations in Europe and the West continued to be difficult.

Such concerns regarding India's poor passport strength found confirmation in recent global passport ranking, which placed the country in the 85th spot out of 199 countries, a decline of five positions compared to the previous year.

Officials in India has not commented regarding these findings yet.

Countries including Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size than India – a nation that is the world's fifth biggest economy – hold better positions in the ranking at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.

In fact, the country's position over the last ten years has remained in the 80s, even dipping to the 90th spot in 2021. These rankings appear poor compared to other Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, all maintaining leading ranks.

Global Passport Power Measures

Passport strength reflects a nation's soft power and global influence. This leads to better mobility for its citizens, improving commercial and learning opportunities. A weak passport means more paperwork, increased visa expenses, reduced travel benefits and longer waiting times when journeying.

However, even with the decline in the rank, the count of nations offering visa-free access to Indians has grown over the last ten years.

As an instance, in 2014 – when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – fifty-two nations offered visa-free access for Indian passport holders and its passport at seventy-sixth position on the index.

A year later, it fell to the 85th position, then improved to eightieth in 2023 and 2024, dropping again to the eighty-fifth spot currently. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations to Indian citizens grew from fifty-two eight years ago to sixty last year and sixty-two this year.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The number of visa-free destinations this year (57) is higher than the number in 2015 (52), but India's rank for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. What explains this situation?

Experts say that a major reason involves growing competition in global mobility – meaning nations are forming additional travel agreements to benefit their citizens and economic growth. According to recent analysis, the worldwide mean count of countries people can visit visa-free has nearly doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to 109 in 2025.

For example, The Chinese passport has expanded its count of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from fifty to eighty-two over the last ten years. Consequently, its rank in the ranking has enhanced from 94th to 60th during the same time period.

Meanwhile, India – previously positioned 77th on the index during summer – fell to the 85th position this autumn after losing access to two countries.

Additional Factors Affecting Passport Strength

An ex-diplomat from India notes there are other factors that affect the strength of a country's passport, like economic and political conditions plus its openness to accepting travelers from abroad.

For example, the American passport has fallen from the top ten currently holding the 12th position – 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 travel to numerous European and Western nations, though this shifted after the Khalistan movement in the 1980s. Subsequent political upheavals have continued to damage at India's image as a stable democracy.

"Many countries are growing more cautious of immigrants," the diplomat added. "India has a large quantity of citizens emigrating overseas or remaining beyond visa limits affecting the country's reputation."

Factors such as how secure of a national passport and its immigration procedures also play a role to obtaining visa-free access to other countries.

Enhanced Security Measures

India's passport remains vulnerable to security risks. Last year, authorities arrested over two hundred individuals for alleged passport and visa irregularities. The country also has complex immigration processes and a slow pace for visa approvals.

The former ambassador says that technological advances, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and streamline immigration. The e-passport includes a microchip holding biometric information, making it harder to counterfeit or alter the passport.

But, increased diplomatic efforts and travel partnerships continue essential to boosting the global mobility for Indian citizens and consequently, India's passport ranking.