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Earlier this year, a video by a popular travel content creator expressing frustration over India's weak passport gained massive traction on social media.

The influencer stated although neighbouring countries such as Bhutan and Sri Lanka were more welcoming to travelers from India, obtaining visas for visiting most Western and European countries continued to be difficult.

This dissatisfaction with India's poor passport strength was reflected in the latest global passport ranking, ranking India in the 85th spot out of 199 countries, five spots lower than last year.

The Indian government 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 world's fifth biggest economy – are ranked higher on the index at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, in that order.

In fact, India's rank over the last ten years has hovered around the eighties, falling to the 90th spot in 2021. These rankings appear poor when measured against Asian nations like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, which have consistently held top positions.

Global Passport Power Indicates

The power of a passport reflects a nation's soft power and global influence. This leads to better mobility for its citizens, boosting business and learning opportunities. Limited passport power means additional documentation, increased visa expenses, reduced travel benefits 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 in the past decade or so.

As an instance, eight years ago – the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – 52 countries provided visa-free access to Indians and its passport ranked 76th on the index.

The following year, it tumbled to eighty-fifth place, then improved to eightieth in 2023 and 2024, declining once more to the eighty-fifth spot this year. At the same time, visa-free destinations for Indians grew from fifty-two eight years ago to sixty last year and 62 in 2024.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The count of visa-free destinations this year (fifty-seven) exceeds 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 primary factor is the increasingly competitive landscape in international travel – indicating that countries are forming additional travel agreements to benefit their citizens and their economies. As per a 2025 report, the global average count of countries people can visit without visas has nearly doubled from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2025.

As an illustration, China has increased the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 in the past decade. As a result, its rank in the ranking has enhanced from 94th to 60th in that same duration.

In comparison, India – previously positioned 77th on the index during summer – dropped to the 85th position this autumn after losing access of two nations.

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

A former Indian ambassador says there are other factors that affect a nation's passport power, like its economic and political stability plus its openness to welcoming citizens from abroad.

For instance, the American passport has fallen of the top 10 currently holding twelfth place – a historic low – due to its increasingly insular stance in global affairs.

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

"Numerous nations are growing more cautious regarding migrants," the diplomat added. "The country possesses a large quantity of people migrating to other countries or remaining beyond visa limits affecting the country's reputation."

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

Enhanced Security Measures

India's passport faces ongoing security threats. In 2024, authorities arrested over two hundred individuals for suspected visa and passport fraud. India is also known for complex immigration processes and a slow pace for visa approvals.

The diplomat indicated that technological advances, such as the newly introduced electronic passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and ease the immigration process. This electronic document contains a microchip holding biometric information, making it harder to counterfeit or alter the document.

But, increased diplomatic efforts and travel partnerships continue essential for enhancing the global mobility for Indian citizens and, by extension, India's passport ranking.