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Earlier this year, a video by an Indian travel influencer complaining about the limited power of the Indian passport gained massive traction on social media.

The influencer stated although nearby nations like Sri Lanka and Bhutan offered easier access to Indian tourists, obtaining visas for visiting many nations in Europe and the West remained a challenge.

This dissatisfaction with the limited global access of Indian passports found confirmation in recent global passport ranking, ranking the country in the 85th spot among 199 countries, a decline of five positions than last year.

Officials in India has not commented regarding these findings so far.

Nations like Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies compared to India – which is the fifth-largest economy globally – are ranked higher on the index at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.

Actually, the country's position in the past decade has hovered in the 80s, falling to the 90th spot two years ago. These rankings are dismal when measured against Asian nations like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which have consistently held leading ranks.

Global Passport Power Indicates

The power of a passport indicates a nation's soft power and international standing. This leads to better mobility for passport holders, improving commercial and educational prospects. A weak passport results in more paperwork, increased visa expenses, reduced travel benefits and extended processing periods when journeying.

However, even with the decline in the rank, the number of countries providing visa-free travel to Indians has grown in the past decade or so.

As an instance, in 2014 – the year the current administration's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – fifty-two nations offered visa-free access to Indians and its passport at seventy-sixth position in the ranking.

A year later, it tumbled to eighty-fifth place, then rose to eightieth in 2023 and 2024, dropping again to the 85th position currently. At the same time, countries allowing visa-free travel for Indians increased from 52 in 2015 to sixty last year and 62 in 2024.

The Competitive Global Mobility Landscape

The number of nations allowing visa-free entry this year (fifty-seven) exceeds what it was in 2015 (fifty-two), but India's rank for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. What explains this situation?

Experts say that a major reason involves growing competition in international travel – meaning nations are forming more travel partnerships to benefit their citizens and economic growth. According to recent analysis, the worldwide mean number of destinations travellers are able to access visa-free has nearly doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to 109 in 2025.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has expanded the number of visa-free countries its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 over the last ten years. As a result, its rank on the index has improved from ninety-fourth to sixtieth during the same time period.

In comparison, India – which was ranked at seventy-seventh place in July – dropped to eighty-fifth place this autumn after losing access of two nations.

Additional Factors Affecting Passport Strength

A former Indian ambassador says there are other factors that affect the strength of a country's passport, including economic and political conditions as well as its openness to welcoming citizens from abroad.

For instance, the US passport has dropped out from the top ten currently holding the 12th position – its lowest ever – due to its increasingly insular stance in world politics.

The diplomat recalls that during the seventies, Indians enjoyed visa-free travel to numerous European and Western nations, though this shifted after the Sikh separatist movement in the 1980s. Later political disturbances have further chipped away at India's image as a stable democracy.

"Numerous nations are growing more cautious regarding migrants," he stated. "India has a large quantity of people migrating to other countries or remaining beyond visa limits and that interferes with the national image."

Factors such as the security level of a national passport and its immigration procedures also play a role in gaining visa-free access to other countries.

Security and Technological Improvements

India's passport faces ongoing security risks. In 2024, authorities detained over two hundred individuals for alleged visa and passport fraud. The country also has cumbersome immigration procedures with lengthy timelines for visa approvals.

The diplomat indicated that new technologies, like India's recently-launched electronic passport or e-passport, can improve security and ease the immigration process. This electronic document includes a small chip holding biometric information, making it harder to forge or tamper with the document.

But, more diplomatic outreach and travel agreements remain key for enhancing the global mobility of Indians and, by extension, the Indian passport's global position.