Indians can visit 61 countries without need for a prior visa.According to Henley and Partners Passport Index, Indian passport has been ranked as the 79th most powerful globally.
However, India’s neighbours Pakistan,Bangladesh,Nepal,Afganistan and Sri Lanka performs bad on the index.Afghanistan and Iraq fares worst having ranked at 104 in the index. Pakistan ranks 102 with its passport holders can access to just 33 countries.
Started in 2006, the Henley Passport Index (HPI) makes the global ranking of countries as per the travel freedom for their citizens.It ranks world passports based on how travel- responsive they are and without a prior visa how many countries they can get the holder access.
The Indian passport holder can have access of 61 countries with no the need of a pre-travel visa. This figure is nearly double the number that a Pakistani passport has access to. Indeed, Pakistan fares better when compares to that of the war-torn countries like Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Japan tops the list with most powerful passport in the index with citizens of Japan,having access to 190 countries. Second in the rank goes to Singapore and South Korea jointly with passport of these two can access to 189 each while France and Germany placed at third spot with access to 188 each. American passport shares the sixth spot along with UK, Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada while the citizens from these countries can access to 185 countries without need of a prior visa.
While China is ranked at 69th,India’s other neighbours – Bhutan (83rd), Sri Lanka (95th), Bangladesh (97th) and Nepal (98th) – don’t perform too well.
