Why India's Indian Passport Is Falling in Worldwide Standing

Earlier this year, a video from a popular travel content creator expressing frustration over the limited power of the Indian passport went viral on social media.

He mentioned that while neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Sri Lanka were more welcoming to travelers from India, obtaining visas to travel to many nations in Europe and the West remained a challenge.

This dissatisfaction with the limited global access of Indian passports found confirmation in the latest global passport ranking, ranking the country at position eighty-five among nearly two hundred nations, five spots lower compared to the previous year.

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

Countries including Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size than India – a nation that is the world's fifth biggest economy – are ranked higher on the index in the seventies range, respectively.

In fact, India's rank over the last ten years has remained in the 80s, even dipping to the 90th spot two years ago. These rankings appear poor compared to other Asian countries like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, all maintaining top positions.

Global Passport Power Indicates

Passport strength indicates a country's global influence and global influence. It also translates into better mobility for passport holders, boosting business and educational prospects. Limited passport power means additional documentation, higher visa costs, reduced travel benefits and longer waiting times for travel.

But despite the decline in the rank, the number of countries providing visa-free travel to Indians has actually increased in the past decade or so.

For example, eight years ago – the year the current administration's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – 52 countries provided visa-free travel to Indians with the passport at seventy-sixth position in the ranking.

A year later, it fell to eighty-fifth place, then rose to 80th over the past two years, dropping again to the eighty-fifth spot this year. Meanwhile, 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 this year (57) exceeds what it was in 2015 (fifty-two), but the country's position for both these years is 85. What explains this situation?

Experts say that a primary factor is the increasingly competitive landscape in global mobility – meaning countries are entering into additional travel agreements to benefit their citizens and their economies. According to a 2025 report, the worldwide mean number of destinations travellers are able to access without visas has nearly doubled from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2025.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has expanded the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from fifty to eighty-two in the past decade. As a result, its rank in the ranking has improved from 94th to 60th during the same time period.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – which was ranked 77th on the index during summer – fell to eighty-fifth place this autumn after losing access of two nations.

Additional Factors Affecting Passport Strength

An ex-diplomat from India notes there are other factors influencing the strength of a country's passport, including its economic and political stability as well as its openness to welcoming citizens from abroad.

For instance, the American passport has dropped out from the top ten and now occupies twelfth place – a historic low – due to its more inward-looking approach in world politics.

The diplomat mentioned how in the 1970s, Indians enjoyed visa-free travel to numerous European and Western nations, though this shifted after the Sikh separatist movement in the 1980s. Subsequent political upheavals have further chipped away at India's image as a stable, democratic country.

"Numerous nations are also becoming more cautious regarding migrants," the diplomat added. "The country possesses a large quantity of citizens emigrating overseas or overstaying their visas and that interferes with the country's reputation."

Factors such as the security level of a national passport and its immigration procedures also play a role in gaining visa-free entry to other countries.

Security and Technological Improvements

India's passport faces ongoing security threats. In 2024, law enforcement arrested over two hundred individuals for alleged passport and visa irregularities. The country also has complex immigration processes with lengthy timelines for visa approvals.

The former ambassador says that technological advances, such as the newly introduced electronic passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and streamline immigration. This electronic document includes a small chip that stores biometric information, increasing difficulty to counterfeit or alter the passport.

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