Why Indian passport falls in global ranking

Earlier this year, a video of an Indian traveler 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, obtaining visas to travel to most Western and European countries remained a challenge.

His displeasure with India’s weak passport power was reflected in the latest Henley Passport Index – a world passport ranking system based on visa-free travel – which placed India 85th out of 199 countries, five places lower than last year.

The Indian government has yet to comment on the report. The BBC has contacted the Foreign Office.

Countries such as Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies than India – which is the world’s fifth largest economy – are ranked higher in the index at 78th, 74th and 72nd respectively.

In fact, India’s rank over the past decade has fluctuated in the 80s, even falling to 90th place in 2021. These rankings pale in comparison to Asian nations such as Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which consistently occupy top positions.

This year, as last year, Singapore topped the index with visa-free travel to 193 countries. South Korea is in second place with 190 visa-free destinations, and Japan is in third place with 189 countries.

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

Passport power reflects a nation’s soft power and global influence. It also leads to better mobility for citizens, promoting business and training opportunities. A weak passport means more paperwork, higher visa costs, fewer travel privileges and longer travel wait times.

But despite the drop in rank, the number of countries offering visa-free access to Indians has actually increased over the past decade.

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 was ranked 76th in the index.

A year later, it fell to 85th, then climbed to 80th in 2023 and 2024, falling back to 85th this year. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations for Indians have 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 what it was in 2015 (52), but India’s ranking for both those years is 85. So why is that?

Experts say the main reason is the increasingly competitive environment in global mobility – meaning countries are entering into more travel partnerships to benefit their citizens and economies. According to a 2025 report by Henley & Partners, the average global number of destinations that travelers can access visa-free is almost has doubled from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2025.

For example, over the past decade, China has increased the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from 50 to 82. Consequently, its rank on the index has improved from 94th to 60th over the same time period.

Meanwhile, India – which was ranked 77th in the index in July (Henley Passport’s index is updated quarterly to reflect changes in global visa policies) as it enjoyed visa-free access to 59 countries – fell to 85th in October after losing access to two countries.

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

For example, the US passport fell out of the top 10 and now occupies the 12th position – an all-time low – because of its increasingly isolated position in world politicsthe report says.

Mr. Malhotra recalls how in the 1970s Indians had visa-free travel to many Western and European countries, but that changed after Khalistan movement in the 1980s, who called for an independent homeland for Sikhs in India and sparked internal turmoil. The ensuing political upheaval further tarnished India’s image as a stable, democratic country.

“Many countries are also becoming increasingly wary of immigrants,” says Mr. Malhotra. “India has a large number of people migrating to other countries or overstaying their visas and this is hurting the country’s reputation.”

Factors such as how secure a country’s passport is and its immigration procedures also play a role in gaining visa-free access to other countries, Mr. Malhotra says.

Passport India remains vulnerable to security threats. In 2024, the Delhi Police 203 people were arrested for alleged visa and passport fraud. India is also known for having cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace of visa processing.

Mr. Malhotra says that technological advances, such as the recent launch in India electronic passport or electronic passportcan improve security and facilitate the immigration process. An electronic passport includes a small chip that stores biometric information, making it more difficult to forge or tamper with the document.

But more diplomatic contacts and travel arrangements remain key to boosting global Indian mobility and, more generally, India’s passport ranking.

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