India has slipped to 125th position in the Global Passport Index (GPI) 2026 and remains outside the top 100 despite a slight improvement last year.
After climbing from 127th place between 2021 and 2023 to 124th in 2025, the country has once again fallen behind and now offers visa-free access to only 26 destinations.
India is now just behind Namibia, which is ranked 124th, while Azerbaijan is ranked 126th.
Indian passport holders can travel visa-free to destinations including Bhutan, Nepal, Jamaica, Macau, Palestine, Tunisia, Angola and Barbados or obtain a visa on arrival. However, they still require a visa to enter approximately 88 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, and the UAE.
While India’s rank has declined, the GPI shows that India’s overall passport score has reached its highest level in the last five years.
The report shows that India’s overall passport score improved to 45.1, the highest since it started tracking the country in 2021.
While the rankings focus only on the number of countries a passport can enter without a visa, the Global Passport Index looks at a much broader picture. It measures passports based on three main factors: freedom of travel, investment opportunities and quality of life, to gauge how valuable the passport is to its holder.