Why is the Indian passport falling in the world rankings

Earlier this year, a video made by an Indian Travelflencer winner complaining about India’s Weak Passport went viral on social media.

He said that while neighboring countries like Bhutan and Sri Lanka were more welcoming to Indian tourists, getting visas to many Western and European countries remained a challenge.

His dissatisfaction with the power of the poor Indian passport was reflected in the Henley Passness Index – a ranking system of world passports based on travel visas – which placed India in 85 countries, five spots lower than the previous year.

The Indian government did not comment on the report. The BBC has reached out to the Foreign Office.

Countries like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan which have much smaller economies than India – which is the Fifth-Hikoth Economby in the world – are ranked higher in the Index, respectively.

In fact, India’s position in the last ten years has made it to the 80s, even sinking to the 90th place in the year 2021. These positions are compared to Asian nations such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore.

This year, as the last, Singapore raised the index with Visa-Free travel to 193 countries. South Korea came in second with 190 visa-free destinations and Japan ranked third with 189 countries.

Meanwhile, Indian passport holders have visa-free entry to 57 countries, like citizens of the African country of Mauritania, which shares the 85th position with India.

The power of a passport reflects a nation’s soft power and global influence. It also translates to better mobility for its citizens, increasing business and learning opportunities. A weak passport means more paperwork, higher visa costs, fewer travel rights and longer wait times to travel.

But despite the decline in rank, the number of countries offering visa-free access to Indians has actually grown over 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 offered visa-free travel to Indians and its passport ranked 76 in the index.

A year later, it fell to 85th place, then moved to 80th in 2023 and 2024, and dropped again to 85th place this year. Meanwhile, visa-free zones for Indians increased from 52 in 2015 to 60 in 2023 and 62 in 2024.

The number of Visa-free destinations in 2025 (57) is higher than in 2015 (52), however India’s position for that year is 85. So, why is that?

Experts say the main reason for the rise of global competition in global travel is that countries have the intention to enter into more travel cooperation for the benefit of their citizens and their economies. According to the 2025 report by Henley & Partner, the average global number of travelers who have access to visas will almost double from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2025.

For example, China has increased the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel from 50 to 82 over the past decade. As a result, its position in the index has improved from 94 24 to 60 during the same period.

Meanwhile, India – which was ranked 77th in the Index in July (The Henley Passness Index is updated regularly to reflect 59 policy changes in October after losing access to two countries.

Achal Malhotra, a former Indian ambassador to Armenia, says there are other factors that affect the strength of a country’s passport, such as its economic and political strength and its openness to accepting citizens from other countries.

For example, the US passport has dropped out of the top 10 and now sits in 12th place – a historic low – due to its increasing political status in the world, the report said.

Mr Malhotra recalls how in the 1970s, Indians enjoyed visa-free travel to many western and European countries, but that changed after the Khalistan movement in the 1980s, which led to internal turmoil. The following political maneuvers were carried over to the image of India as a stable, democratic country.

“Many countries are becoming more tolerant of migrants,” said Mr Malhotra. “India has a high number of people who immigrate or overstay their visas and that tarnishes the country’s reputation.”

Factors such as how secure a country’s passport and immigration procedures are also play a role in gaining access to foreign countries, Mr Malhotra said.

An Indian passport remains vulnerable to security threats. In 2024, Delhi police arrested 203 people for alleged visa and passport fraud. India is also known for having complicated immigration procedures and a slow pace of visa processing.

Mr Malhotra says technological advances, such as the recently introduced e-passport, can improve security and ease the migration process. Passports contain a small chip that stores biometric information, making it difficult to forge or tamper with the document.

But high-level access and mobility agreements remain key to increasing global mobility of Indians and, more importantly, Passport’s position in India.

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