The Reasons Behind the Indian Passport Is Falling in Worldwide Standing

Earlier this year, a video by an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport went viral across digital platforms.

The influencer stated although neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bhutan offered easier access to travelers from India, securing travel permits to travel to many nations in Europe and the West continued to be difficult.

This dissatisfaction regarding India's poor passport strength found confirmation in the latest global passport ranking, ranking India in the 85th spot out of nearly two hundred nations, a decline of five positions compared to the previous year.

The Indian government have not issued a statement on the report so far.

Nations including Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies compared to India – a nation that is the world's fifth biggest economy – hold better positions in the ranking at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.

In fact, India's rank over the last ten years has hovered around the eighties, even dipping to ninetieth place two years ago. Such standings are dismal when measured against Asian nations like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, all maintaining top positions.

What Passport Strength Measures

The power of a passport reflects a nation's soft power and international standing. It also translates into better mobility for passport holders, improving commercial and educational prospects. A weak passport results in more paperwork, higher visa costs, reduced travel benefits and extended processing periods for travel.

But despite the drop in position, the count of nations providing visa-free travel for Indian citizens has grown in the past decade or so.

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 at seventy-sixth position in the ranking.

A year later, it fell to the 85th position, then improved to 80th in 2023 and 2024, dropping again to the 85th position currently. Meanwhile, countries allowing visa-free travel for Indians increased from fifty-two eight years ago to sixty last year and 62 in 2024.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The count of nations allowing visa-free entry this year (57) exceeds what it was eight years ago (fifty-two), but India's rank 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 – meaning nations are entering into more travel partnerships for their populations' advantage and economic growth. According to a 2025 report, the worldwide mean count of countries travellers are able to access visa-free has almost doubled from 58 in 2006 to one hundred nine currently.

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. Consequently, its rank in the ranking has improved from 94th to 60th in that same duration.

Meanwhile, India – previously positioned at seventy-seventh place 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 multiple elements influencing a nation's passport power, like economic and political conditions as well as its openness to accepting travelers from abroad.

For example, the American passport has dropped out of the top 10 and now occupies twelfth place – its lowest ever – because of its increasingly insular stance in world politics.

The former ambassador mentioned how in the 1970s, Indian citizens had visa-free access to numerous European and Western nations, 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.

"Numerous nations are growing increasingly wary of immigrants," the diplomat added. "India has a large quantity of people migrating to other countries or remaining beyond visa limits affecting the country's reputation."

Factors like the security level a country's passport is and its immigration procedures also contribute in gaining visa-free entry to other countries.

Enhanced Security Measures

The Indian passport faces ongoing security risks. Last year, law enforcement detained over two hundred individuals for suspected passport and visa irregularities. India is also known for cumbersome immigration procedures with lengthy timelines of visa processing.

The diplomat indicated that new technologies, such as the newly introduced digital passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and streamline immigration. The e-passport contains a small chip holding biometric data, making it harder to forge or tamper with the document.

However, more diplomatic outreach and travel partnerships continue essential for enhancing the global mobility for Indian citizens and, by extension, the Indian passport's global position.