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In recent months, a video by a popular travel content creator complaining about India's weak passport went viral across digital platforms.

The influencer stated although nearby nations such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan were more welcoming to Indian tourists, obtaining visas to travel to most Western and European countries remained a challenge.

This dissatisfaction regarding India's poor passport strength found confirmation in the latest global passport ranking, ranking the country at position eighty-five out of nearly two hundred nations, five spots lower than last year.

The Indian government has not commented on the report so far.

Countries like Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies compared to India – a nation that is the fifth-largest economy globally – are ranked higher in the ranking at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, in that order.

Actually, India's rank in the past decade has hovered around the eighties, even dipping to the 90th spot in 2021. These rankings appear poor when measured against other Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which have consistently held leading ranks.

What Passport Strength Measures

Passport strength reflects a country's global influence and global influence. It also translates into better mobility for its citizens, improving commercial and educational prospects. A weak passport results in more paperwork, higher visa costs, reduced travel benefits and extended processing periods for travel.

However, even with the decline in the rank, the number of countries offering visa-free access to Indians has grown in the past decade or so.

For example, eight years ago – the year the current administration'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 in the ranking.

A year later, it tumbled to the 85th position, then rose to 80th over the past two years, dropping again to the 85th position this year. Meanwhile, countries allowing visa-free travel to Indian citizens grew from 52 in 2015 to 60 in 2023 and sixty-two this year.

The Competitive Global Mobility Landscape

The count of visa-free destinations this year (fifty-seven) is higher than what it was eight years ago (fifty-two), but the country's position for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. So, why is that?

Experts say that a major reason is the increasingly competitive landscape in international travel – indicating that nations are entering into additional travel agreements to benefit their citizens and their economies. According to a 2025 report, the worldwide mean count of countries people can visit visa-free has nearly doubled from 58 in 2006 to one hundred nine currently.

For example, The Chinese passport has increased 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 enhanced from ninety-fourth to sixtieth during the same time period.

Meanwhile, India – which was ranked at seventy-seventh place during summer – fell to the 85th position in October after losing access to two countries.

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

An ex-diplomat from India says there are other factors that affect a nation's passport power, like economic and political conditions as well as its receptiveness to welcoming citizens from other countries.

For example, the American passport has dropped out of the top 10 and now occupies twelfth place – its lowest ever – because of its increasingly insular stance in world politics.

The diplomat mentioned how in the 1970s, Indians enjoyed visa-free access to many Western and European countries, but that changed following Sikh separatist movement in the 1980s. Subsequent political upheavals have further chipped away at India's image as a stable democracy.

"Many countries are growing increasingly wary of immigrants," the diplomat added. "India has a large quantity of people migrating to other countries or overstaying their visas and that interferes with the national image."

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

Enhanced Security Measures

India's passport remains vulnerable to security risks. In 2024, authorities arrested 203 people for alleged passport and visa irregularities. The country also has cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace of visa processing.

The former ambassador indicated that new technologies, such as the newly introduced digital passport or e-passport, can improve security and ease the immigration process. This electronic document includes a small chip that stores biometric information, increasing difficulty to forge or tamper with the passport.

However, increased diplomatic efforts and travel agreements remain key for enhancing the global mobility of Indians and consequently, India's passport ranking.