Data misinterpreted to claim media misreported India's passport ranking

What is the claim?

A post has been shared on X (formerly Twitter) claiming that Indian media outlets are deliberately distorted facts about India during an election year. The post cited a screenshot of an NDTV news report on the world’s powerful passports, which listed India at the 80th position. The caption of this post (archived here) read, “Exposing the Indian Fake News Media Maze! During the election years, Indian media spins wild tales. Passport Index puts India at 68, but the media, in a spectacular twist, claims 80 using the SAME data! The art of Fake News hits new heights. Indian media – a master class in misinformation! Passport rankings are distorted for a sensational narrative for Pidis (sic).” 

This post implies that media outlets are deliberately trying to undermine the status of the Indian passport. The post also contained a link to one of the global passport-ranking website ‘Passportindex.org.’

Screenshot of the viral post. (Source: X/Screenshot/Modified by Logically Facts)

However, the claim made in the post are incorrect.

What are the facts?

We first checked for the NDTV report with the same headline as shown in the X post and came across a report published by the outlet on January 12.  Titled “World's Most Powerful Passports: 6 Countries In Top Spot, India Ranks…,” the report noted that “India's passport ranked 80th spot in the list, with citizens allowed to travel to 62 countries without a visa.” 

NDTV cited the Henley Passport Index for the ranking and noted that the ratings were based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Speaking to the outlet, Christian H Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners and the creator of the passport index said, “Despite an overall trend toward increased travel freedom over the past two decades, the disparity between the top and bottom of the index has reached an all-time high.”

The NDTV report referenced The Henley Passport Index. (source: NDTV/Screenshot)

We also checked the official Henley & Partners website and found that the Indian passport was at the 80th position in their latest index. 

Screenshot from official Henley & Partners website with the rankings. (Source: Henley and Partners/Screenshot)

However, the X post citing the NDTV report has shared the link to a different passport-ranking website—‘Passportindex.org’—to show that India’s rank was 68 and not 80.

Upon checking this website, we found that as of January 17, India’s ‘Passport power rank’ was 72. Under the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section, the website noted that “Passport Power Rank is based on the passport Mobility Score. The higher the Mobility Score (MS), the better the Passport Power Rank. Passports sharing the same MS have the same Passport Power Rank.” 

India's ranking on 'passport.index.org' as of January 17, 2023. (Source: Screenshot/www.passportindex.org)

It also notes that “Mobility Score (MS) is the total number of countries that can be easily accessed with a given passport. It is a calculated total based on Visa-free, Visa-on-arrival, eTA, and eVisa issued within 3 days.” India’s Mobility Score was 74 (Visa-free countries- 24, Visa on arrival- 47, eTA- 3).

At the time of writing, The Henley Passport Index put India at the 80th position, and the ‘Passportindex.org’ website placed India at 72.

The verdict

Ranking from a different rating website has been used to show that media outlets have misrepresented India’s passport ranking determined by The Henley & Partner Index. Therefore, we have marked this claim as misleading.