Why Indian passport is falling in world rating

[ad_1] Cherylann Mollan BBC Information, Mumbai

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/81bb/live/0a3d5c90-afcf-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/81bb/live/0a3d5c90-afcf-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/81bb/live/0a3d5c90-afcf-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/81bb/live/0a3d5c90-afcf-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/81bb/live/0a3d5c90-afcf-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/81bb/live/0a3d5c90-afcf-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/81bb/live/0a3d5c90-afcf-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/81bb/live/0a3d5c90-afcf-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images Photo of a person holding blue coloured Indian passport" class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Pictures India's passport ranks eighty fifth out of 199 nations on the Henley Passport Index

Earlier this 12 months, a video by an Indian journey influencer complaining about India's weak passport went viral on social media.

He stated that whereas neighbouring nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka had been extra welcoming of Indian vacationers, getting visas to journey to most Western and European nations remained a problem.

His dissatisfaction with India's poor passport energy was mirrored within the newest Henley Passport Index - a rating system of the world's passports primarily based on visa-free journey - which positioned India within the eighty fifth spot out of 199 nations, 5 spots decrease than final 12 months.

The Indian authorities has not commented on the report but. The BBC has reached out to the ministry of exterior affairs.

Nations like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan with a lot smaller economies than India - which is the fifth-largest economic system globally - are ranked increased on the index on the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.

In actual fact, India's rank previously decade has hovered within the 80s, even dipping to the ninetieth spot in 2021. These rankings are dismal in comparison with Asian nations like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which have persistently held prime positions.

This 12 months, just like the final, Singapore topped the index with visa-free journey to 193 nations. South Korea got here in second with 190 visa-free locations and Japan ranked third with 189 nations.

In the meantime, Indian passport holders have visa-free entry to 57 nations, identical to the residents of the African nation Mauritania, which shares the eighty fifth rank with India.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/28ea/live/12d93ad0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/28ea/live/12d93ad0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/28ea/live/12d93ad0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/28ea/live/12d93ad0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/28ea/live/12d93ad0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/28ea/live/12d93ad0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/28ea/live/12d93ad0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/28ea/live/12d93ad0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images Passengers in the departure area of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, operated by Adani Group, in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, May 22, 2024." class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Pictures Indian passport holders have visa-free entry to 57 nations

Passport energy displays a nation's gentle energy and world affect. It additionally interprets into higher mobility for its residents, boosting enterprise and studying alternatives. A weak passport means extra paperwork, increased visa prices, fewer journey privileges and longer ready instances for journey.

However regardless of the decline within the rank, the variety of nations providing visa-free entry to Indians has really elevated previously decade or so.

For instance, in 2014 - the 12 months Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) got here to energy - 52 nations provided visa-free journey to Indians and its passport ranked 76th on the index.

A 12 months later, it tumbled to the eighty fifth place, then rose to eightieth in 2023 and 2024, dropping once more to the eighty fifth place this 12 months. In the meantime, visa-free locations for Indians elevated from 52 in 2015 to 60 in 2023 and 62 in 2024.

The variety of visa-free locations in 2025 (57) is increased than what it was in 2015 (52), but India's rank for each these years is 85. So, why is that?

Consultants say {that a} main purpose is the more and more aggressive panorama in world mobility - that means nations are coming into into extra journey partnerships to learn their residents and their economies. In response to a 2025 report by Henley & Companions, the worldwide common variety of locations travellers are capable of entry visa-free has practically doubled from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2025.

For instance, China has elevated the variety of visa-free locations its residents can journey to from 50 to 82 previously decade. Consequently, its rank on the index has improved from 94th to sixtieth throughout the identical time interval.

In the meantime, India - which was ranked 77th on the index in July (the Henley Passport Index is up to date quarterly to replicate modifications in world visa insurance policies) because it loved visa-free entry to 59 nations - dropped to the eighty fifth place in October after dropping entry to 2 nations.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/4f7a/live/8005fda0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/4f7a/live/8005fda0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4f7a/live/8005fda0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/4f7a/live/8005fda0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/4f7a/live/8005fda0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/4f7a/live/8005fda0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/4f7a/live/8005fda0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/4f7a/live/8005fda0-afd0-11f0-be1a-29a37cb41475.jpg.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Getty Images In airport: hand on luggage trolley, holding Singapore passport, boarding pass, face mask, and map. " class="sc-5340b511-0 hLdNfA"/> Getty Pictures Singapore's passport is probably the most highly effective on the planet

Achal Malhotra, former Indian ambassador to Armenia, says there are different elements that have an effect on the energy of a rustic's passport, like its financial and political stability in addition to its openness to welcoming residents from different nations.

For instance, the US passport has dropped out of the highest 10 and now occupies the twelfth place - a historic low - due to its more and more insular stance in world politics, the report says.

Mr Malhotra remembers how within the Seventies, Indians loved visa-free journey to many Western and European nations, however that modified after the Khalistan motion within the Nineteen Eighties, which referred to as for an impartial homeland for Sikhs in India and brought on inner turmoil. Subsequent political upheavals have additional chipped away at India's picture as a secure, democratic nation.

"Many nations are additionally turning into more and more cautious of immigrants," Mr Malhotra says. "India has a excessive variety of individuals migrating to different nations or overstaying their visas and that interferes with the nation's status."

Elements akin to how safe a rustic's passport is and its immigration procedures additionally play a task in gaining visa-free entry to different nations, Mr Malhotra says.

India's passport stays weak to safety threats. In 2024, the Delhi police arrested 203 individuals for alleged visa and passport fraud. India can be recognized for having cumbersome immigration procedures and a gradual tempo of visa processing.

Mr Malhotra says that technological advances, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, can enhance safety and ease the immigration course of. The e-passport features a small chip that shops biometric info, making it tougher to forge or tamper with the doc.

However extra diplomatic outreach and journey agreements stay key to boosting the worldwide mobility of Indians and, by extension, India's passport rating.