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Earlier this year, a video by a popular travel content creator complaining about India's weak passport went viral on social media.

The influencer stated although neighbouring countries such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan were more welcoming of travelers from India, securing travel permits 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, which placed the country in the 85th spot among 199 countries, a decline of five positions compared to the previous year.

The Indian government has not commented on the report yet.

Nations like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies compared to India – which is the world's fifth biggest economy – hold better positions in the ranking in the seventies range, respectively.

In fact, India's rank in the past decade has hovered around the eighties, falling to ninetieth place two years ago. Such standings appear poor compared to other Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which have consistently held leading ranks.

What Passport Strength Measures

The power of a passport indicates a nation's soft power and global influence. It also translates into enhanced travel freedom for its citizens, boosting business and educational prospects. A weak passport results in more paperwork, increased visa expenses, reduced travel benefits and extended processing periods for travel.

However, even with the decline in the rank, the count of nations providing visa-free travel to Indians has grown over the last ten years.

For example, 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 ranked 76th in the ranking.

The following year, it tumbled to the 85th position, then improved to 80th in 2023 and 2024, declining once more to the 85th position this year. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations to Indian citizens increased from 52 in 2015 to sixty last year and 62 in 2024.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The number of visa-free destinations in 2025 (fifty-seven) is higher than the number eight years ago (52), yet India's rank during both periods is 85. So, why is that?

Experts say that a major reason is the increasingly competitive landscape in global mobility – meaning nations are entering into more travel partnerships to benefit their citizens and their economies. 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 available to its citizens from 50 to 82 in the past decade. As a result, its rank in the ranking has enhanced from ninety-fourth to sixtieth during the same time period.

Meanwhile, India – previously positioned 77th on the index during summer – fell to eighty-fifth place this autumn following the loss of two nations.

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

An ex-diplomat from India notes there are other factors that affect the strength of a country's passport, like economic and political conditions as well as its receptiveness to accepting travelers from abroad.

For example, the American passport has fallen from the top ten currently holding 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 travel to many Western and European countries, but that changed after the Khalistan movement in the 1980s. Later political disturbances have continued to damage the country's reputation as a stable democracy.

"Numerous nations are growing more cautious of immigrants," he stated. "The country possesses a large quantity of citizens emigrating to other countries or overstaying their visas affecting the country's reputation."

Elements like how secure of a national passport and its immigration procedures also play a role to obtaining visa-free entry to other countries.

Security and Technological Improvements

The Indian passport remains vulnerable to security risks. In 2024, law enforcement detained 203 people for suspected visa and passport fraud. The country also has complex immigration processes with lengthy timelines of visa processing.

The diplomat indicated that technological advances, like India's recently-launched electronic passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and ease the immigration process. This electronic document contains a small chip holding biometric data, increasing difficulty to counterfeit or alter the passport.

However, increased diplomatic efforts and travel agreements remain key to boosting international travel freedom of Indians and consequently, India's passport ranking.