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In recent months, a video from a popular travel content creator expressing frustration over India's weak passport gained massive traction across digital platforms.

The influencer stated that while nearby nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka offered easier access of travelers from India, obtaining visas for visiting many nations in Europe and the West continued to be difficult.

Such concerns regarding India's poor passport strength was reflected in the latest Henley Passport Index, which placed India in the 85th spot among 199 countries, five spots lower compared to the previous year.

Officials in India have not issued a statement on the report so far.

Countries including Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies compared to India – a nation that is the fifth-largest economy globally – hold better positions on the index at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, in that order.

In fact, India's rank over the last ten years has remained around the eighties, falling to the 90th spot two years ago. Such standings appear poor when measured against other Asian countries like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, which have consistently held leading ranks.

Global Passport Power Indicates

Passport strength indicates a country's global influence and global influence. This leads to enhanced travel freedom for its citizens, improving commercial and educational prospects. Limited passport power means more paperwork, increased visa expenses, fewer travel privileges and extended processing periods for travel.

But despite the decline in the rank, the number of countries providing visa-free travel for Indian citizens has grown in the past decade or so.

For example, in 2014 – the year the current administration's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed office – fifty-two nations provided visa-free access to Indians and its 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 this year. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations to Indian citizens grew from fifty-two eight years ago to sixty last year and sixty-two this year.

Increasing Worldwide Travel Competition

The count of nations allowing visa-free entry this year (57) is higher than the number in 2015 (52), yet India's rank for both these years is 85. What explains this situation?

Experts say that a major reason is the increasingly competitive landscape in international travel – indicating that nations are forming additional travel agreements to benefit their citizens and their economies. As per recent analysis, the global average count of countries 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 destinations its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 in the past decade. Consequently, its position in the ranking has enhanced from ninety-fourth to sixtieth in that same duration.

In comparison, The Indian passport – which was ranked at seventy-seventh place during summer – dropped to eighty-fifth place this autumn after losing access of two nations.

Additional Factors Affecting Passport Strength

An ex-diplomat from India notes multiple elements that affect the strength of a country's passport, including its economic and political stability as well as its openness to welcoming citizens from abroad.

For example, the American passport has fallen of the top 10 currently holding twelfth place – a historic low – because of 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, but that changed following Khalistan movement during the eighties. Later political disturbances have continued to damage the country's reputation as a stable democracy.

"Many countries are growing more cautious of immigrants," he stated. "The country possesses a high number of citizens emigrating overseas or overstaying their visas and that interferes with the national image."

Elements such as the security level a country's passport is and immigration processes also contribute to obtaining visa-free access to foreign nations.

Enhanced Security Measures

The Indian passport remains vulnerable to security risks. Last year, authorities detained over two hundred individuals for suspected passport and visa irregularities. The country also has complex immigration processes with lengthy timelines of visa processing.

The diplomat says that new technologies, like India's recently-launched electronic passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and streamline immigration. The e-passport contains a small chip holding biometric data, increasing difficulty to counterfeit or alter the document.

However, more diplomatic outreach and travel partnerships remain key to boosting the global mobility for Indian citizens and consequently, India's passport ranking.