Why the Indian Passport Continues to Drop in Global Ranking

Earlier this year, a video from an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport went viral on social media.

The influencer stated although nearby nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka were more welcoming to travelers from India, securing travel permits to travel to many nations in Europe and the West remained a challenge.

This dissatisfaction with India's poor passport strength was reflected in the latest global passport ranking, ranking India at position eighty-five out of 199 countries, a decline of five positions compared to the previous year.

Officials in India have not issued a statement regarding these findings so far.

Countries including Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies compared to India – which is the world's fifth biggest economy – are ranked higher on the index in the seventies range, respectively.

Actually, India's rank in the past decade has remained around the eighties, falling to the 90th spot two years ago. Such standings appear poor when measured against other Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, all maintaining leading ranks.

What Passport Strength Measures

Passport strength reflects a nation's soft power and international standing. This leads to enhanced travel freedom for passport holders, boosting business and educational prospects. A weak passport results in more paperwork, higher visa costs, fewer travel privileges 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 actually increased over the last ten years.

As an instance, in 2014 – the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – fifty-two nations provided visa-free travel for Indian passport holders and its passport ranked 76th in the ranking.

A year later, it fell to the 85th position, then rose to eightieth over the past two years, declining once more to the 85th position currently. 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 in 2025 (57) is higher than the number in 2015 (fifty-two), yet the country's position during both periods remains at eighty-fifth. What explains this situation?

Experts say that a primary factor involves growing competition in global mobility – indicating that nations are entering into 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 almost doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to one hundred nine currently.

For example, The Chinese passport has increased the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 over the last ten years. Consequently, its rank on the index has improved from ninety-fourth to sixtieth during the same time period.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – which was ranked 77th on the index in July – fell to eighty-fifth place this autumn after losing access of two nations.

Additional Factors Affecting Passport Strength

A former Indian ambassador says multiple elements that affect the strength of a country's passport, including its economic and political stability as well as its receptiveness to accepting travelers from abroad.

For example, the American passport has dropped out from the top ten currently holding the 12th position – a historic low – because of its more inward-looking approach in world politics.

The former ambassador mentioned how in the 1970s, Indians enjoyed visa-free travel to many Western and European countries, but that changed following Sikh separatist movement during the eighties. Subsequent political upheavals have continued to damage the country's reputation as a stable democracy.

"Many countries are also becoming increasingly wary of immigrants," the diplomat added. "The country possesses a high number of people migrating overseas or overstaying their visas and that interferes with the national image."

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

Security and Technological Improvements

The Indian passport faces ongoing security risks. In 2024, law enforcement arrested over two hundred individuals for alleged passport and visa irregularities. The country also has cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace of visa processing.

The diplomat says that new technologies, such as the newly introduced digital passport or e-passport, can improve security and streamline immigration. This electronic document includes a microchip holding biometric information, increasing difficulty to counterfeit or alter the document.

However, more diplomatic outreach and travel partnerships remain key for enhancing international travel freedom for Indian citizens and, by extension, the Indian passport's global position.