How powerful is the Indian passport? Check out Henley Index ranking

How powerful is the Indian passport? The question is not frivolous. The answer indicates exactly where it stands vis a vis the rest of the world across quite a few metrics. Well, India holds the 81st position in the Henley Passport Index, offering a vise-free access to 56 destinations. It shares its position along with Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Senegal, and Togo. According to Dr. Christian H. Kalin, group chairman of Henley & Partners,  the survey is most robust as it surveys a total of 199 different passports against 227 different travel destinations, including countries, territories, and micro-states. According to its website, "The Henley Passport Index is a ranking of all the passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free." 

The Japanese passport is the most powerful in the world, says Henley Passport Index. The country is now offering its citizens visa-free access to a record total of 189 destinations. Following Japan are Singapore and Germany which jointly are occupying the second position. South Korea, Finland, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden are at the third place.

In the Henley Passport Index, UAE has climbed to the 23rd place with increasing 38 places since 2008. Henley Passport Index maintains the world's largest and most accurate database of travel information based on the exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

In April Russia announced that the visas of all the passengers who have the tickets of the  FIFA World Cup would be approved. Compared to Q1, the country have fallen to 47th position from the 45th position on the Henley Passport Index.

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Along with  Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Portugal, UK and US hold the fourth position. Compared to Q1, US has climbed to the 4th position from the 5th while UK remained the same.

However, China has strengthened its position significantly, rising to 68th position from its 74th place in Q1, with the access to UAE, Oman, and Bosnia and Herzegovina this year.