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In recent months, a video by an Indian travel influencer complaining about India's weak passport went viral on social media.

He mentioned although neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka and Bhutan offered easier access to Indian tourists, securing travel permits for visiting many nations in Europe and the West continued to be difficult.

Such concerns with India's poor passport strength found confirmation in the latest Henley Passport Index, which placed India at position eighty-five among 199 countries, a decline of five positions than last year.

Officials in India has not commented on the report so far.

Countries including Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size than India – which is the world's fifth biggest economy – are ranked higher on the index at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.

In fact, the country's position in the past decade has hovered in the 80s, even dipping to ninetieth place two years ago. These rankings appear poor when measured against Asian nations like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, all maintaining top positions.

What Passport Strength Indicates

The power of a passport reflects a nation's soft power and global influence. It also translates into better mobility for passport holders, improving commercial and educational prospects. Limited passport power means more paperwork, increased visa expenses, fewer travel privileges and longer waiting times when journeying.

But despite 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 – fifty-two nations provided visa-free travel for Indian passport holders with the passport ranked 76th in the ranking.

A year later, it tumbled to eighty-fifth place, then rose to 80th over the past two years, dropping again to the eighty-fifth spot currently. Meanwhile, countries allowing visa-free travel to Indian citizens increased from 52 in 2015 to sixty last year and sixty-two this year.

The Competitive Global Mobility Landscape

The count of nations allowing visa-free entry in 2025 (57) is higher than the number in 2015 (fifty-two), yet India's rank for both these years remains at eighty-fifth. What explains this situation?

Analysts note that a primary factor is the increasingly competitive landscape in international travel – indicating that nations are entering into more travel partnerships to benefit their citizens and their economies. According to recent analysis, the worldwide mean count of countries people can visit visa-free has almost doubled from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2025.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has expanded its count of visa-free countries its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82 over the last ten years. Consequently, its position on the index has enhanced from ninety-fourth to sixtieth in that same duration.

Meanwhile, India – which was ranked 77th on the index during summer – fell to eighty-fifth place in October following the loss of two nations.

Additional Factors Impacting Passport Power

An ex-diplomat from India says multiple elements that affect a nation's passport power, including economic and political conditions as well as its receptiveness to accepting travelers from abroad.

For example, the US passport has fallen of the top 10 currently holding the 12th position – its lowest ever – because of its more inward-looking approach in global affairs.

The diplomat recalls how in the 1970s, Indian citizens had visa-free travel to many Western and European countries, but that changed after the Khalistan movement during the eighties. Later political disturbances have continued to damage at India's image as a stable, democratic country.

"Many countries are growing increasingly wary of immigrants," he stated. "India has a high number of citizens emigrating to other countries or overstaying their visas affecting the national image."

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

Security and Technological Improvements

India's passport remains vulnerable to security risks. In 2024, law enforcement detained over two hundred individuals for alleged visa and passport fraud. India is also known for complex immigration processes with lengthy timelines for visa approvals.

The former ambassador indicated that technological advances, such as the newly introduced electronic passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and ease the immigration process. This electronic document contains a small chip holding biometric information, increasing difficulty to counterfeit or alter the document.

But, increased diplomatic efforts and travel agreements continue essential for enhancing international travel freedom for Indian citizens and, by extension, the Indian passport's global position.