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Earlier this year, a video from an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport went viral across digital platforms.

He mentioned that while neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Sri Lanka offered easier access of Indian tourists, 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 recent global passport ranking, ranking the country at position eighty-five out of nearly two hundred nations, five spots lower than last year.

Officials in India have not issued a statement on the report so far.

Nations including Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies than India – which is the world's fifth biggest economy – hold better positions on the index in the seventies range, respectively.

Actually, India's rank over the last ten years has hovered around the eighties, even dipping to the 90th spot two years ago. Such standings appear poor when measured against other Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, all maintaining top positions.

What Passport Strength Indicates

Passport strength reflects a nation's soft power and global influence. This leads to enhanced travel freedom for passport holders, improving commercial and learning opportunities. A weak passport results in more paperwork, increased visa expenses, reduced travel benefits and longer waiting times for travel.

But despite the decline in the rank, the count of nations providing visa-free travel for Indian citizens has grown over the last ten years.

For example, eight years ago – the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party came to power – 52 countries offered visa-free travel for Indian passport holders with the passport ranked 76th on the index.

A year later, it tumbled to eighty-fifth place, then improved to 80th over the past two years, declining once more to the 85th position currently. At the same time, visa-free destinations for Indians increased from 52 in 2015 to 60 in 2023 and 62 in 2024.

The Competitive Global Mobility Landscape

The count of visa-free destinations in 2025 (57) is higher than the number in 2015 (52), but the country's position for both these years is 85. What explains this situation?

Analysts note that a primary factor involves growing competition in global mobility – meaning nations are forming additional travel agreements to benefit their citizens and their economies. As per a 2025 report, the global average count of countries travellers are able to access visa-free has almost doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to one hundred nine currently.

For example, China has increased the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 over the last ten years. Consequently, its position on the index has enhanced from ninety-fourth to sixtieth during the same time period.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – which was ranked 77th on the index during summer – fell to the 85th position in October after losing access of two nations.

Additional Factors Affecting Passport Strength

An ex-diplomat from India notes multiple elements influencing a nation's passport power, including economic and political conditions as well as its openness to welcoming citizens from abroad.

For instance, the American passport has dropped out of the top 10 currently holding the 12th position – a historic low – because of its more inward-looking approach in global affairs.

The former ambassador mentioned how in the 1970s, Indian citizens had visa-free access to numerous European and Western nations, but that changed following Sikh separatist movement in the 1980s. Subsequent political upheavals have continued to damage the country's reputation as a stable democracy.

"Numerous nations are also becoming increasingly wary regarding migrants," he stated. "The country possesses a large quantity of citizens emigrating overseas or overstaying their visas affecting the national image."

Factors such as the security level a country's passport is and immigration processes also play a role in gaining visa-free access to foreign nations.

Security and Technological Improvements

The Indian passport faces ongoing security threats. In 2024, authorities detained 203 people for suspected passport and visa irregularities. India is also known for complex immigration processes and a slow pace of visa processing.

The former ambassador says that new technologies, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and ease the immigration process. The e-passport includes a microchip holding biometric information, increasing difficulty to forge or tamper with the document.

However, more diplomatic outreach and travel agreements continue essential to boosting the global mobility for Indian citizens and, by extension, India's passport ranking.