🔗 Share this article

In recent months, an online clip by an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport gained massive traction on social media.

He mentioned that while nearby nations such as Sri Lanka and Bhutan were more welcoming to Indian tourists, obtaining visas for visiting many nations in Europe and the West remained a challenge.

Such concerns with the limited global access of Indian passports was reflected in recent global passport ranking, which placed the country in the 85th spot among 199 countries, a decline of five positions than last year.

Officials in India has not commented regarding these findings yet.

Countries like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size than India – which is the fifth-largest economy globally – hold better positions on the index in the seventies range, respectively.

In fact, India's rank in the past decade has remained around the eighties, falling to ninetieth place in 2021. These rankings appear poor compared to Asian nations like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, which have consistently held top positions.

What Passport Strength Indicates

Passport strength reflects a nation's soft power and global influence. This leads to better mobility for passport holders, boosting business and educational prospects. A weak passport results in additional documentation, increased visa expenses, reduced travel benefits and extended processing periods when journeying.

However, even with the drop in position, the number of countries offering visa-free access to Indians has grown in the past decade or so.

As an instance, in 2014 – the year the current administration's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed office – 52 countries offered visa-free access to Indians with the passport at seventy-sixth position in the ranking.

The following year, it tumbled to the 85th position, then improved to 80th in 2023 and 2024, dropping again to the eighty-fifth spot currently. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations for Indians increased from 52 in 2015 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), but India's rank during both periods is 85. So, why is that?

Experts say that a primary factor is the increasingly competitive landscape in global mobility – indicating that nations are entering into more travel partnerships for their populations' advantage and economic growth. As per recent analysis, the worldwide mean count of countries travellers are able to access without visas has almost doubled from fifty-eight nineteen years ago to one hundred nine currently.

For example, The Chinese passport has increased its count of visa-free countries available to its citizens from 50 to 82 in the past decade. Consequently, its rank in the ranking has enhanced from 94th to 60th in that same duration.

Meanwhile, The Indian passport – previously positioned 77th on the index during summer – dropped to eighty-fifth place this autumn following the loss of two nations.

Other Influences Impacting Passport Power

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

For instance, the American passport has fallen from the top ten currently holding twelfth place – its lowest ever – due to its increasingly insular stance in world politics.

The diplomat recalls how in the 1970s, Indians enjoyed visa-free travel to many Western and European countries, though this shifted after the Sikh separatist movement during the eighties. Later political disturbances have further chipped away at India's image as a stable, democratic country.

"Numerous nations are growing more cautious of immigrants," the diplomat added. "India has a large quantity of people migrating to other countries or overstaying their visas and that interferes with the national image."

Elements like the security level of a national passport and immigration processes also play a role to obtaining visa-free access to foreign nations.

Security and Technological Improvements

The Indian passport remains vulnerable to security threats. Last year, authorities arrested 203 people for alleged visa and passport fraud. The country also has cumbersome immigration procedures and a slow pace for visa approvals.

The diplomat says that new technologies, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and streamline immigration. This electronic document includes a microchip holding biometric data, making it harder to counterfeit or alter the document.

However, more diplomatic outreach and travel agreements continue essential for enhancing international travel freedom of Indians and consequently, India's passport ranking.