diff --git a/news/11671.feature.rst b/news/11671.feature.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..31f81f8da00
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/11671.feature.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Ignore PIP_REQUIRE_VIRTUALENV for ``pip index``
diff --git a/src/pip/_internal/commands/index.py b/src/pip/_internal/commands/index.py
index b4bf0ac06e1..7267effed24 100644
--- a/src/pip/_internal/commands/index.py
+++ b/src/pip/_internal/commands/index.py
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ class IndexCommand(IndexGroupCommand):
     Inspect information available from package indexes.
     """
 
+    ignore_require_venv = True
     usage = """
         %prog versions <package>
     """