BLS International says MEA ban will not impact revenue, working to resolve issue

BLS International, the New Delhi-based provider of visa and consular outsourcing services, said the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has barred it from participating in future tenders for two years. The company disclosed that it received the notice from the foreign ministry on October 10.

Shikhar Aggarwal, JMD, BLS International, said the action was linked to “a procedural issue” and some “consumer complaints.” He clarified that BLS continues to honour all its existing contracts. “In the first quarter, around 12% of our revenue and 9% of our EBITDA came from the business we do with the MEA,” he said, adding that “none of this business is going to be impacted.”



The company said all current contracts with the ministry, which have terms ranging from two to five years, remain valid. “This circular restricts us temporarily from bidding for new contracts,” Aggarwal said. “We are actively working with the authorities to resolve this issue.”

BLS International operates in over 70 countries and works with more than 40 governments. “We recently won a big contract with the UIDAI worth ₹2,000 crore,” he said. “We also have a pipeline of $1.5-2 billion worth of global tenders that we are bidding for.”

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Aggarwal said he remains confident about resolving the matter with the Indian government and continuing its growth momentum. “We are the only Indian company in this business globally,” he said. “We are working on this to resolve it as soon as possible.”

BLS, which has a market capitalisation of ₹12,374.87 crore, has seen its shares decline by more than 19% over the past year.

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