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Earlier this year, a video from a popular travel content creator complaining about India's weak passport gained massive traction on social media.

The influencer stated although nearby nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka offered easier access of travelers from India, obtaining visas to travel to most Western and European countries remained a challenge.

This dissatisfaction with India's poor passport strength was reflected in recent global passport ranking, which placed the country in the 85th spot out of 199 countries, a decline of five positions than last year.

The Indian government has not commented regarding these findings so far.

Nations like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size compared to India – which is the fifth-largest economy globally – hold better positions in the ranking at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.

In fact, India's rank in the past decade has remained in the 80s, falling to the 90th spot two years ago. These rankings appear poor when measured against Asian nations such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which have consistently held leading ranks.

Global Passport Power Measures

Passport strength indicates a nation's soft power and global influence. It also translates into enhanced travel freedom for its citizens, boosting business and learning opportunities. A weak passport results in more paperwork, higher visa costs, reduced travel benefits and extended processing periods when journeying.

However, even with the decline in the rank, the count of nations providing visa-free travel to Indians has grown over the last ten years.

For example, in 2014 – when the current administration's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – 52 countries provided visa-free travel for Indian passport holders and its passport ranked 76th in the ranking.

The following year, it tumbled to eighty-fifth place, then improved to 80th over the past two years, dropping again to the 85th position currently. At the same time, countries allowing visa-free travel to Indian citizens increased from 52 in 2015 to 60 in 2023 and sixty-two this year.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The number of visa-free destinations this year (57) exceeds the number eight years ago (52), yet India's rank for both these years is 85. What explains this situation?

Analysts note that a primary factor involves growing competition 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 count of countries travellers are able to access without visas has nearly doubled from 58 in 2006 to one hundred nine currently.

For example, China has increased its count of visa-free countries its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 in the past decade. As a result, its position in the ranking has improved from ninety-fourth to sixtieth during the same time period.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – previously positioned at seventy-seventh place during summer – fell to the 85th position in October after losing access of two nations.

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

An ex-diplomat from India says multiple elements that affect the strength of a country's passport, like its economic and political stability plus its receptiveness to welcoming citizens from abroad.

For instance, the US passport has fallen from the top ten and now occupies twelfth place – a historic low – due to its more inward-looking approach in world politics.

The diplomat recalls that during the seventies, Indian citizens had visa-free access to numerous European and Western nations, but that changed following Khalistan movement in the 1980s. Later political disturbances have further chipped away at India's image as a stable democracy.

"Many countries are growing more cautious regarding migrants," he stated. "The country possesses a high number of citizens emigrating overseas or remaining beyond visa limits 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 other countries.

Security and Technological Improvements

India's passport remains vulnerable to security threats. Last year, authorities arrested 203 people for suspected passport and visa irregularities. India is also known for cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace for visa approvals.

The former ambassador says that new technologies, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, can improve security and ease the immigration process. This electronic document contains a small chip holding biometric information, increasing difficulty to forge or tamper with the document.

However, increased diplomatic efforts and travel partnerships remain key to boosting international travel freedom of Indians and, by extension, India's passport ranking.