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In recent months, an online clip from an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport gained massive traction across digital platforms.

The influencer stated although nearby nations such as Bhutan and Sri Lanka offered easier access to Indian tourists, securing travel permits for visiting most Western and European countries remained a challenge.

Such concerns with India's poor passport strength found confirmation in the latest Henley Passport Index, which placed the country in the 85th spot out of 199 countries, a decline of five positions than last year.

The Indian government have not issued a statement regarding these findings yet.

Countries including Ghana, Rwanda and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size than India – a nation that is the fifth-largest economy globally – are ranked higher on the index in the seventies range, in that order.

Actually, India's rank in the past decade has hovered around the eighties, even dipping to the 90th spot in 2021. Such standings are dismal compared to other Asian countries like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, all maintaining leading ranks.

What Passport Strength Measures

Passport strength reflects a nation's soft power and global influence. This leads to better mobility for its citizens, improving commercial and educational prospects. Limited passport power results in additional documentation, increased visa expenses, fewer travel privileges and longer waiting times when journeying.

But despite the decline in the rank, the count of nations providing visa-free travel for Indian citizens has actually increased in the past decade or so.

For example, in 2014 – the year Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power – 52 countries provided visa-free access to Indians with the passport ranked 76th on the index.

The following year, it fell to the 85th position, then rose to 80th in 2023 and 2024, dropping again to the eighty-fifth spot currently. At the same time, countries allowing visa-free travel to Indian citizens grew 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) is higher than the number eight years ago (52), yet the country's position for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. So, why is that?

Experts say that a major reason is the increasingly competitive landscape in international travel – indicating that countries are entering into more travel partnerships to benefit their citizens and economic growth. As per recent analysis, the global average count of countries people can visit without visas has almost doubled from 58 in 2006 to one hundred nine currently.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has increased the number of visa-free countries available to its citizens from fifty to eighty-two over the last ten years. As a result, its rank in the ranking has enhanced from 94th to 60th in that same duration.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – which was ranked at seventy-seventh place in July – dropped to eighty-fifth place this autumn after losing access to two countries.

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

A former Indian ambassador says multiple elements that affect a nation's passport power, like its economic and political stability as well as its openness to accepting travelers from other countries.

For example, the US passport has fallen of the top 10 and now occupies the 12th position – a historic low – because of its more inward-looking approach in global affairs.

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

"Many countries are growing increasingly wary of immigrants," the diplomat added. "The country possesses a large quantity of citizens emigrating overseas or remaining beyond visa limits affecting the country's reputation."

Factors such as the security level a country's passport is and immigration processes also play a role to obtaining visa-free entry to other countries.

Enhanced Security Measures

India's passport faces ongoing security threats. In 2024, law enforcement detained over two hundred individuals for suspected visa and passport fraud. The country also has complex immigration processes and a slow pace for visa approvals.

The former ambassador indicated that new technologies, such as the newly introduced digital passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and ease the immigration process. This electronic document includes a small chip that stores biometric data, making it harder to forge or tamper with the document.

However, increased diplomatic efforts and travel agreements continue essential for enhancing the global mobility of Indians and consequently, India's passport ranking.