In Conversation with India’s World Team
Some of us remember the long queues outside foreign embassies in New Delhi, where Indians and citizens from other neighbouring countries stood for long hours to obtain a visa for travelling abroad. The experience was fraught with long waits, complaints and chaos —all while enduring the heat of summer, the chill of winter, or relentless monsoons.
Zubin Karkaria has changed that for good.
Today, you can book an appointment online, visit a VFS Global centre, hand your documents in an air-conditioned lounge, and will be told when and how to collect your visa. That’s it.
How a devout Parsi priest from a middle-class family in Mumbai went from a travel industry professional to being the founder of VFS Global is a compelling story – of how a bold idea coupled with technological innovation built a global company born in India.
In early February, India’s World team met with Zubin Karkaria, founder and CEO of VFS Global, at a hotel lounge in New Delhi to discuss the company’s transformative impact on global mobility.
From Frustration to Innovation: The Genesis of an Idea
Karkaria’s entrepreneurial spirit was born in the vibrant yet often frustrating world of Indian travel in the 1990s. In the decade that India liberalised its economy, the country was becoming better off, and middle-class Indians started exploring the world in greater numbers. But obtaining a foreign visa in India was often a daunting experience. The challenges significantly hampered outbound tourism and created logistical nightmares for tour operators. “The biggest issue was getting the visas on time,” Karkaria recalls, explaining how significant delays routinely derailed planned trips and impacted business.
Karkaria, then heading tour operations for SOTC and Kuoni, witnessed these difficulties firsthand. He remembers the chaos vividly: “The long waits and the inability to communicate with anyone inside the embassy while braving the Delhi heat or peak winter or the monsoons was a painful experience.” This experience fuelled his determination to find a solution.
Karkaria kept his ear to the ground to survive in an industry that focused on customer satisfaction. He recalls going to extraordinary lengths to ensure his clients’ comfort, convincing Carnival Cruise Line in the 1990s, for instance, to install a tandoor oven on its ships to cater to the needs of his Indian clients.
Tandoori rotis were easy to take care of, but without visas, the trips he planned for travellers were getting routinely cancelled. So Karkaria thought of something radical and decided to give it a try. He approached the U.S. Consulate in Mumbai in late 1999. “I spoke to two senior consular officials and said to them, give me a chance to help you out with an idea.”
He proposed handling all the administrative work – collecting documents, verifying information, and even collecting visa fees from visa applicants – leaving consular officials with the sole responsibility of making the final decision on the visa. “You just focus on the decision to grant a visa, life could be much easier for everyone,” he told them.
The response was initially one of disbelief. Could a third-party organisation truly handle such a sensitive and critical process? Karkaria persisted and proposed a pilot program to back up his conviction.
“Alright, let’s do a pilot if you are insisting, but at no obligation. You invest in the process. You invest in the technology and security. You invest in the place. And the software, everything is yours. If it works, then we can look at it. If it doesn’t work…too bad,” the U.S. consular officials told Karkaria, cautioning him that they were merely allowing him to do it to see whether it worked with their system.
And it worked.
“It worked so well that we had a team from Washington DC coming in, checking what we are doing. They liked it. We extended it. And then we extended from Mumbai (then Bombay) to 100,000 applicants in three cities in 2001, that is Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune.”
And VFS Global was born. A radical idea that became a billion-dollar business. The positive outcomes led to a scaling-up of operations, with VFS Global expanding its services to other countries and consulates. Positive feedback from applicants and government agencies powered the company’s growth and reinforced the value proposition of Karkaria’s vision. This success laid the groundwork for VFS Global’s future trajectory, transforming it into one of India’s early unicorns and a global leader in processing visa applications. Starting with just 100,000 applicants in three Indian cities in 2001, VFS Global grew exponentially, reaching 30.3 million applicants across 150 countries and 3,500 visa application centres by 2019, a testament to the success of Karkaria’s vision.
His core proposal – to handle all administrative non-judgemental tasks (document collection, verification, biometrics where applicable and fee processing), freeing up consular officials to focus exclusively on the critical decision-making process of visa approvals or denials is, in some ways, a simple answer to a complex problem, something he is keen on replicating in other areas of the government-citizen interface.
Global Ascent
It is one thing for an Indian company to work with one foreign government in three cities, but becoming a truly global company is a much bigger game, dealing with multiple bureaucracies in several countries that have unique standard operating procedures. “The whole business is built of trust”, he says. “Each piece in it, maintaining data security and privacy, providing excellent service to visa seekers, and fostering long-term partnerships with governments are all key,” he points out. “We don’t keep the data. It is not mine; the data is for the country that I work with, and we are very clear about that,” he says. This commitment to data security and privacy has been vital in building confidence with client governments globally.
“But what really helped was starting with the Americans”, Karkaria recalled, “securing the U.S. government as our first client was pivotal, providing the credibility and validation needed for expansion into new markets…If the Americans could trust us, everybody else could trust us,” Karkaria notes, highlighting the significance of this early success.
The next move was strategic, too – VFS Global won a global contract from the UK government in 2007-2008, which became a significant milestone as it demonstrated the trust that major foreign governments were willing to place in an Indian company to handle such a sensitive process on a global scale.
Then came technology adoption which have been instrumental in driving efficiency and improving service delivery. The adoption of online portals, biometric systems, and digital document verification processes have modernised the visa application process, making it more convenient and user-friendly. Karkaria highlights that supervised biometrics are critical to security.
VFS Global today is a truly global business, with a vast network of visa application centres across 150 countries. By 2019, the company was processing a staggering 30.3 million visa applications annually and has had a significant impact on global mobility. And yet, the company adopts a localised approach, employing dedicated managers in each country, ensuring that VFS Global effectively navigates the unique needs of each region. This localised approach and sensitivity to adapt to the structure of different bureaucracies has been essential in building strong relationships with governments.
Surviving COVID
At the height of its business came its biggest crisis so far – Covid 19 – when visa processing dropped from 30.3 million visas to fewer than one million. Once again, Karkaria’s innovative approach sprang to action. He re-engineered the company’s operational model, prioritizing employee retention and upskilling through massive online training initiatives. They implemented over 300 online courses, ranging from professional development to cooking and music, to keep staff engaged while working from home. This technological transformation and rationalization enabled a swift recovery post-pandemic, with VFS Global rebounding to 24.1 million visa applications as they leveraged prepared infrastructure and a supportive shareholder base that provided vital investment during the downturn. By 2024, VFS Global had surpassed their pre-pandemic performance, achieving higher numbers than in 2019.
Zubin Karkaria is an avid traveller and believes that travel is transformative – it expands perspectives and fostering a deeper understanding of different cultures. For Karkaria, travel isn’t just about sightseeing; it’s about broadening horizons, challenging preconceived notions, and fostering empathy.
The priest in him becomes more philosophical when asked about social responsibility. “It is the duty of every individual to help people and add value to society to the best extent they can. I always look for opportunities to help youngsters to grow and develop themselves professionally and make their lives better by offering them employment or developmental opportunities – give them an opportunity like I was given an opportunity,” he says, “It’s one of the ways I try and give back to society”.
Indian company going global
Zubin Karkaria deftly links VFS Global’s remarkable global expansion to India’s own ascent on the world stage. He points to the shift in global perception of India, noting the increased trust and respect afforded to Indian companies and the enhanced influence of Indian diplomatic missions. Karkaria effectively positions VFS Global’s success as a microcosm of India’s broader rise, showcasing how a homegrown Indian company could become a global leader, shaping the narrative of an increasingly influential India on the world stage. The trust placed in an Indian company to manage critical governmental services globally reflects a significant shift in the international view of India’s capabilities and reliability, Karkaria adds.
He also believes that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership has been a strong catalyst in changing the global perception about India which has opened the doors for young innovative entrepreneurs. “I strongly believe this is India’s decade, and Hon. PM Modi-ji’s visionary leadership has created this incredible opportunity for our country and given Indian corporations the opportunity to proudly present themselves and excel on the global stage.”
What next? Karkaria wants to make life easy for people in more ways by expanding into the citizen services sector, aiming to streamline access to those seeking essential documents like driver’s licenses, passports, birth and death certificates and various municipal services.
It’s potentially another promising and significant sphere of work for this successful global company.
