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In recent months, a video from an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport gained massive traction on social media.

He mentioned that while neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan offered easier access of travelers from India, securing travel permits for visiting most Western and European countries continued to be difficult.

This dissatisfaction with the limited global access of Indian passports found confirmation in recent Henley Passport Index, ranking the country at position eighty-five among 199 countries, five spots lower compared to the previous year.

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

Nations like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies compared to India – a nation that is the world's fifth biggest economy – are ranked higher in the ranking in the seventies range, respectively.

Actually, the country's position over the last ten years has hovered around the eighties, even dipping to ninetieth place in 2021. Such standings appear poor compared to other Asian countries like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, which have consistently held leading ranks.

What Passport Strength Measures

The power of a passport indicates a nation's soft power and global influence. This leads to better mobility for passport holders, improving commercial and learning opportunities. Limited passport power means additional documentation, increased visa expenses, fewer travel privileges and extended processing periods for travel.

However, even with the decline in the rank, the count of nations providing visa-free travel for Indian citizens has grown in the past decade or so.

For example, in 2014 – the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling party came to power – fifty-two nations provided visa-free travel to Indians with the passport ranked 76th in the ranking.

A year later, it fell to eighty-fifth place, then rose to 80th in 2023 and 2024, declining once more to the 85th position currently. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations to Indian citizens grew from fifty-two eight years ago to 60 in 2023 and 62 in 2024.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The count of nations allowing visa-free entry in 2025 (fifty-seven) is higher than the number in 2015 (52), but the country's position during both periods is 85. What explains this situation?

Experts say that a major reason is the increasingly competitive landscape in international travel – indicating that countries are forming additional travel agreements to benefit their citizens and economic growth. According to recent analysis, the worldwide mean number of destinations people can visit without visas has nearly doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to one hundred nine currently.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has expanded the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 in the past decade. As a result, its position in the ranking has enhanced from 94th to 60th during the same time period.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – which was ranked at seventy-seventh place in July – dropped to eighty-fifth place in October following the loss of two nations.

Other Influences Affecting Passport Strength

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

For instance, the American passport has dropped out of the top 10 currently holding the 12th position – a historic low – due to its increasingly insular stance in global affairs.

The former ambassador mentioned that during the seventies, Indians enjoyed visa-free access to numerous European and Western nations, though this shifted after the Sikh separatist movement in the 1980s. Subsequent political upheavals have further chipped away the country's reputation as a stable democracy.

"Numerous nations are also becoming increasingly wary regarding migrants," the diplomat added. "India has a large quantity of citizens emigrating overseas or remaining beyond visa limits and that interferes with the country's reputation."

Factors like the security level of a national passport and its immigration procedures also contribute in gaining visa-free access to other countries.

Enhanced Security Measures

India's passport faces ongoing security threats. Last year, authorities arrested over two hundred individuals for alleged passport and visa irregularities. India is also known for cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace of visa processing.

The diplomat says that technological advances, like India's recently-launched electronic passport or e-passport, can improve security and streamline immigration. The e-passport contains a small chip holding biometric data, making it harder to forge or tamper with the passport.

However, more diplomatic outreach and travel partnerships continue essential for enhancing the global mobility for Indian citizens and consequently, India's passport ranking.