The Henley Passport Index for 2025 shows India’s passport dropping to 85th place it was 80th last year. This ranking by Henley & Partners looks at how many places you can travel to without needing a visa beforehand. It suggests that even though some news stories talk about India being a big player in the world the passport’s actual performance tells a different story.
Right now if you have an Indian passport you can only go to 57 places without a visa. That makes it one of the weaker passports compared to other countries in the G-20 group. This also means there’s a difference between how India is seen on a global stage and how easy it is for regular Indians to travel internationally.
The index figures this out by studying visa rules from all countries to see how many places you can visit without visa hassles. Basically a high ranking means a country has more influence and its people can travel more freely. The fact that India’s ranking has dropped again makes you wonder why there’s a gap between India’s place in world politics and the actual travel freedom its people have.