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In recent months, a video by a popular travel content creator expressing frustration over India's weak passport went viral across digital platforms.

The influencer stated that while nearby nations like Sri Lanka and Bhutan were more welcoming to Indian tourists, securing travel permits for visiting many nations in Europe and the West continued to be difficult.

Such concerns regarding the limited global access of Indian passports found confirmation in recent global passport ranking, ranking the country in the 85th spot out of nearly two hundred nations, five spots lower than last year.

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

Nations like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size than India – which is the world's fifth biggest economy – are ranked higher on the index in the seventies range, in that order.

In fact, India's rank over the last ten years has remained in the 80s, falling to ninetieth place in 2021. These rankings appear poor when measured against Asian nations such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, all maintaining leading ranks.

What Passport Strength Indicates

The power of a passport reflects a nation's soft power and international standing. It also translates into enhanced travel freedom for passport holders, boosting business and educational prospects. A weak passport means additional documentation, higher visa costs, fewer travel privileges and longer waiting times for travel.

However, even with the decline in the rank, the number of countries providing visa-free travel to Indians has actually increased over the last ten years.

For example, eight years ago – the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – 52 countries offered visa-free travel to Indians with the passport ranked 76th on the index.

A year later, it fell to eighty-fifth place, then improved to eightieth over the past two years, declining once more to the 85th position this year. At the same time, visa-free destinations for Indians grew from 52 in 2015 to sixty last year and sixty-two this year.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The count of nations allowing visa-free entry in 2025 (fifty-seven) exceeds what it was in 2015 (fifty-two), yet the country's position during both periods remains at eighty-fifth. What explains this situation?

Analysts note that a primary factor is the increasingly competitive landscape in global mobility – meaning countries are entering into additional travel agreements for their populations' advantage and their economies. As per a 2025 report, the worldwide mean count of countries people can visit without visas has almost doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to one hundred nine currently.

For example, China has increased its count of visa-free countries its citizens can travel to from fifty to eighty-two in the past decade. As a result, its position on the index has improved from ninety-fourth to sixtieth during the same time period.

In comparison, India – previously positioned 77th on the index in July – dropped to eighty-fifth place in October after losing access of two nations.

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

A former Indian ambassador notes there are other factors that affect a nation's passport power, including its economic and political stability plus its receptiveness to accepting travelers from abroad.

For instance, the US passport has fallen of the top 10 currently holding twelfth place – a historic low – because of its increasingly insular stance in world politics.

The former ambassador mentioned that during the seventies, Indians enjoyed visa-free access to numerous European and Western nations, though this shifted following Sikh separatist movement during the eighties. Subsequent political upheavals have further chipped away the country's reputation as a stable democracy.

"Many countries are growing increasingly wary of immigrants," the diplomat added. "The country possesses a large quantity of citizens emigrating overseas or overstaying their visas and that interferes with the national image."

Factors like the security level a country's passport is and its immigration procedures also contribute to obtaining visa-free access to foreign nations.

Enhanced Security Measures

India's passport faces ongoing security risks. Last year, authorities arrested over two hundred individuals for suspected passport and visa irregularities. India is also known for complex immigration processes and a slow pace for visa approvals.

The former ambassador indicated that technological advances, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, can improve security and streamline immigration. This electronic document includes a microchip holding biometric information, increasing difficulty to forge or tamper with the document.

But, more diplomatic outreach and travel partnerships remain key to boosting international travel freedom of Indians and consequently, the Indian passport's global position.