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Earlier this year, an online clip from a popular travel content creator complaining about India's weak passport gained massive traction across digital platforms.

He mentioned that while nearby nations such as Bhutan and Sri Lanka were more welcoming to travelers from India, obtaining visas to travel to many nations in Europe and the West continued to be difficult.

This dissatisfaction regarding the limited global access of Indian passports found confirmation in the latest Henley Passport Index, ranking India in the 85th spot out of 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 like Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies compared to India – which is the world's fifth biggest economy – hold better positions on the index in the seventies range, respectively.

Actually, India's rank in the past decade has remained in the 80s, falling to the 90th spot in 2021. These rankings are dismal when measured against other Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, all maintaining leading ranks.

What Passport Strength Measures

The power of a passport reflects a country's global influence and global influence. This leads to enhanced travel freedom for its citizens, boosting business and educational prospects. Limited passport power results in more paperwork, increased visa expenses, fewer travel privileges and extended processing periods for travel.

But despite the decline in the rank, the number of countries providing visa-free travel for Indian citizens has grown in the past decade or so.

As an instance, eight years ago – the year the current administration's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed office – 52 countries offered visa-free access to Indians and its passport at seventy-sixth position on the index.

A year later, it tumbled to the 85th position, then improved to eightieth in 2023 and 2024, declining once more to the eighty-fifth spot this year. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations to Indian citizens 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 (fifty-seven) exceeds what it was in 2015 (fifty-two), yet India's rank during both periods remains at eighty-fifth. What explains this situation?

Analysts note that a major reason involves growing competition in global mobility – indicating that nations are forming additional travel agreements to benefit their citizens and their economies. As per recent analysis, the global average count of countries people can visit without visas has almost doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to 109 in 2025.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has increased its count 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 improved from 94th to 60th in that same duration.

In comparison, The Indian passport – previously positioned 77th on the index in July – fell to eighty-fifth place in October following the loss to two countries.

Other Influences Impacting Passport Power

A former Indian ambassador says there are other factors influencing a nation's passport power, including economic and political conditions as well as its receptiveness to welcoming citizens from other countries.

For instance, the American passport has dropped out of the top 10 and now occupies the 12th position – its lowest ever – due to its increasingly insular stance in world politics.

The former ambassador recalls that during the seventies, Indians enjoyed visa-free access to numerous European and Western nations, but that changed following Khalistan movement during the eighties. Subsequent political upheavals have continued to damage the country's reputation as a stable, democratic country.

"Many countries are growing increasingly wary of immigrants," the diplomat added. "The country possesses a high number of citizens emigrating to other countries or remaining beyond visa limits and that interferes with the country's reputation."

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

Enhanced Security Measures

The Indian passport remains vulnerable to security threats. Last year, law enforcement detained 203 people for suspected passport and visa irregularities. The country also has complex immigration processes with lengthy timelines for visa approvals.

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. The e-passport contains a microchip that stores biometric information, increasing difficulty to forge or tamper with the document.

However, increased diplomatic efforts and travel partnerships continue essential for enhancing the global mobility of Indians and consequently, the Indian passport's global position.