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Earlier this year, an online clip from an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport gained massive traction across digital platforms.

He mentioned that while nearby nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka offered easier access to travelers from India, obtaining visas for visiting many nations in Europe and the West remained a challenge.

This dissatisfaction regarding the limited global access of Indian passports was reflected in the latest global passport ranking, ranking the country at position eighty-five among nearly two hundred nations, five spots lower than last year.

The Indian government have not issued a statement regarding these findings yet.

Nations like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies than India – a nation that is the fifth-largest economy globally – hold better positions in the ranking in the seventies range, respectively.

Actually, the country's position in the past decade has remained around the eighties, even dipping to ninetieth place in 2021. Such standings are dismal when measured against other Asian countries such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which have consistently held top positions.

What Passport Strength Indicates

The power of a passport reflects a country's global influence and international standing. It also translates into enhanced travel freedom for its citizens, boosting business and educational prospects. A weak passport results in additional documentation, increased visa expenses, reduced travel benefits and extended processing periods for travel.

But despite the decline in the rank, the count of nations providing visa-free travel to Indians has grown in the past decade or so.

For example, in 2014 – when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – 52 countries offered visa-free access for Indian passport holders with the passport ranked 76th on the index.

The following year, it tumbled to the 85th position, then improved to 80th over the past two years, declining once more to the eighty-fifth spot currently. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations to Indian citizens increased from fifty-two eight years ago to sixty last year and sixty-two this year.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The count of visa-free destinations in 2025 (57) exceeds the number in 2015 (52), but the country's position for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. So, why is that?

Analysts note that a primary factor is the increasingly competitive landscape in international travel – indicating that countries are forming more travel partnerships for their populations' advantage and their economies. As per a 2025 report, the worldwide mean number of destinations people can visit visa-free has nearly doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to one hundred nine currently.

For example, China has expanded its count of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 in the past decade. Consequently, its position in the ranking has improved from 94th to 60th during the same time period.

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

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

A former Indian ambassador notes multiple elements influencing a nation's passport power, including its economic and political stability as well as its openness to welcoming citizens from abroad.

For instance, the American passport has fallen from the top ten and now occupies the 12th position – its lowest ever – due to its more inward-looking approach in global affairs.

The former ambassador mentioned that during the seventies, Indian citizens had visa-free travel to numerous European and Western nations, though this shifted after the Khalistan movement in the 1980s. Subsequent political upheavals have further chipped away at India's image as a stable democracy.

"Numerous nations are growing increasingly wary of immigrants," he stated. "India has a large quantity of people migrating overseas or overstaying their visas affecting the national image."

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 faces ongoing security risks. In 2024, authorities arrested over two hundred individuals for suspected visa and passport fraud. India is also known for cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace for visa approvals.

The former ambassador says that technological advances, like India's recently-launched electronic passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and ease the immigration process. The e-passport includes a small chip that stores biometric information, increasing difficulty to forge or tamper with the document.

But, increased diplomatic efforts and travel agreements continue essential for enhancing international travel freedom for Indian citizens and, by extension, India's passport ranking.