New Delhi, Feb 7 (IANS) As many as 26 countries provide visa-free entry, 40 countries provide visa-on-arrival facilities and 58 countries provide e-visa facilities to Indian passport holders, the Parliament was informed on Friday.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh refrained from commenting on a fall in Indian passport’s position by five spots to 85th position in the recently released Henley Passport Index 2025.
In a question on the global passport Index, TDP member Vemireddy Prabhakar Reddy had asked if the government had taken note that the Indian passport had fallen from the 80th position in 2024 and down from the 71st position in the year 2006 on the Index.
MoS Kirti Vardhan Singh said, “There are certain private institutions, which publish such ratings based on parameters decided by them. However, there is no widely accepted ranking system for passports at the global level that can be taken as a standard, in the absence of acceptable criteria to rank passports.”
He said the Government has been continuously making efforts to increase the number of countries that may provide visa free travel, visa-on-arrival and e-visa facilities to Indians for ease of travelling around the world.
“As on date, 26 countries provide visa-free entry, 40 countries provide visa-on-arrival facility and 58 countries provide e-visa facility to Indian passport holders, details of the same are updated from time to time by this Ministry on its website, which can be accessed on the following link: https://www.mea.gov.in/VFFIN.htm,” he said in a written reply.
Reddy also sought to know if any remedial measures were likely to be taken by the government to push up the said ranking of Indian passport.
The MoS said, “The formulation of policies with respect to the issuance of visas is a sovereign matter of the respective country and the matter regarding providing visa-free entry/visa-on-arrival facility also depends on various factors including bilateral relations and the principle of reciprocity.”
In his query, Reddy cited the Henley Passport Index 2025 and claimed that a as result of the lower ranking of the Indian passport an Indian traveller can travel visa-free to only 57 countries as against 195 out of 227 countries for Singapore visa holders.
–IANS
rch/uk