Business
Indian Passport (representative image)
India has made significant progress in its ranking in the latest Henley Passport Index, climbing five places to reach 80th position.
This comes as Indian passport holders now enjoy visa-free access to 57 destinations.
Furthermore, Indian citizens can visit countries like Indonesia, Thailand, and Rwanda without a visa or obtain visas on arrival. However, they do require a visa to enter 177 destinations worldwide, including China, Japan, Russia, the United States, and the entire European Union, reports Economic Times.
This high visa requirement has resulted in India's mobility score being relatively low.
Meanwhile, Singapore has surpassed Japan to claim the title of the world's most powerful passport, allowing visa-free entry to 192 global destinations, as per the latest Henley Passport Index.
The decline is attributed to the decrease in the number of destinations that can be accessed without a visa by Japanese passport holders, according to Henley & Partners, an immigration consultancy based in London.
The United States, which was once ranked first nearly a decade ago, has slipped to eighth place in the latest index.
On the other hand, the United Kingdom has made a notable recovery from the impact of Brexit and has moved up two places to secure the fourth position, the spot it last held in 2017.
Singapore is a magnet for wealth, with a recent influx driven by a crackdown on private enterprise in China and fears over geopolitical tensions
However, obtaining citizenship in Singapore is not simple. Last year, only about 23,100 people were granted citizenship, and authorities have ruled out granting citizenship based on an individual's net worth.