An Unique Interview with Mr. Shikhar Aggarwal, JMD, BLS Worldwide Ltd, a globally trusted, tech-enabled, AI-powered service accomplice for governments and residents
On this unique interview, Mr. Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director of BLS Worldwide Ltd, shares insights on how the corporate’s AI-powered, tech-driven options are enhancing world authorities and citizen companies. His management displays innovation, belief, and effectivity.
May you briefly share your background and what led you to hitch BLS Worldwide?
Shikhar Aggarwal: I come from a background in finance and worldwide enterprise, having studied at Delhi College, pursued Chartered Accountancy, and undertaken specialised coaching on the College of California.
My journey with BLS Worldwide started in 2014, pushed by a shared imaginative and prescient to broaden entry to citizen companies throughout the globe. What drew me to the group was its potential to create actual impression at scale—bridging gaps between governments and folks.
Since then, I’ve been lucky to assist lead our world growth, specializing in operational excellence, innovation, and strategic partnerships. It’s been a rewarding expertise to see our work contact lives in over 70 international locations.
What was the imaginative and prescient when BLS Worldwide began in 2005, and the way has it developed?
Shikhar Aggarwal: When BLS Worldwide started its journey in 2005, the imaginative and prescient was clear and impressive—to the touch the lives of a billion individuals globally by making a differentiated service expertise by innovation and expertise.
On the time, our focus was on simplifying government-to-citizen interactions, making important companies extra accessible and environment friendly.
Through the years, that imaginative and prescient has developed in scope however remained rooted in the identical objective. Right this moment, it encompasses not simply scale however impression—enhancing service supply by technological transformation, making certain belief and transparency, and adapting to the distinctive wants of numerous populations throughout greater than 70 international locations and 46+ shopper governments.
Our dedication to innovation has remained fixed, however what’s grown is our accountability—to governments, residents, and the communities we serve. As we proceed this journey, our ambition is evident: to grow to be the most important Indian World Service Supply firm.
What have been the early challenges in coming into the worldwide visa processing area?
Shikhar Aggarwal: Coming into the worldwide visa processing area got here with its personal set of early challenges. As a comparatively new participant in a extremely regulated and trust-driven area, one of many foremost hurdles was establishing credibility with governments and diplomatic missions.
The visa outsourcing trade is constructed on strict compliance, information safety, and operational precision—incomes that belief required us to reveal not simply technical competence, but additionally an unwavering dedication to service integrity and transparency.
One other important problem was navigating the complexities of worldwide operations—every nation comes with its personal authorized frameworks, cultural expectations, and administrative nuances.
Organising seamless, standardized processes whereas adapting to native necessities was a fragile stability we needed to grasp early on.
To distinguish ourselves, we leaned closely on innovation and agility—leveraging expertise to streamline operations, improve buyer expertise, and produce effectivity to each touchpoint.
These sturdy foundations helped us to win the boldness of governments world wide and scale our presence globally.
What do you suppose have been the important thing components behind BLS Worldwide’s world development?
Shikhar Aggarwal: BLS Worldwide’s world development is pushed by a robust mix of superior expertise, compliance, and customer-centricity.
Our constant funding in AI and technological innovation has reworked service supply—simplifying processes, enhancing transparency, and elevating consumer expertise by options like cell biometrics, doorstep visa companies, and AI-enabled workflows.
Belief and compliance stay on the core of our operations, incomes the boldness of governments worldwide. This, mixed with sturdy enterprise efficiency, adaptability throughout numerous markets, and a dedication to excellence, continues to energy our digital transformation and world growth journey.
How is expertise shaping service supply throughout in your CPV companies?
Shikhar Aggarwal: The immigration companies trade is rising quickly, pushed largely by expertise. This sector, encompassing immigration companies and consulting valued at USD 17.96 billion in 2023, is now projected to succeed in USD 31.96 billion by 2031[GS1] .
At BLS Worldwide, we’re main this transformation by a technology-first strategy grounded within the ideas of Know-how, Belief, and Transparency (3Ts) and strengthened by Pace, Scale, Safety, and Sustainability (4Ss).
Via AI-driven automation, biometric verification, cloud-native structure, and real-time analytics, we now have created a future-ready ecosystem that enhances effectivity, transparency, and reliability throughout Visa, Passport, Consular, and Citizen Companies.
Sensible dashboards and predictive insights empower governments with efficiency visibility, whereas facial biometrics, liveliness detection, and automatic doc validation safeguard authenticity and eradicate fraud.
Citizen comfort is additional elevated by multilingual AI VoiceBots and ChatBots that allow on the spot question decision, software monitoring, and appointment scheduling. By harmonizing expertise with governance, BLS Worldwide continues to ship safe, clear, and citizen-centric digital companies.
What drives investor confidence in BLS Worldwide?
Shikhar Aggarwal: Investor confidence in BLS Worldwide is pushed by a mix of constant efficiency, a resilient enterprise mannequin, and a forward-looking strategy rooted in innovation and belief.
Our sturdy monetary trajectory additional reinforces this confidence. BLS Worldwide’s income multiplied 4.6x within the final 5 years—from Rs. 478 crores in FY21 to Rs. 2,193 crores in FY25—whereas working revenue surged 15.3x throughout the identical interval, rising from Rs. 41 crores in FY21 to Rs. 629 crores in FY25.
The numerous enchancment in working margins—from 8.5% in FY21 to twenty-eight.7% in FY25—underscores our prudent monetary administration and profitable execution of development methods.
One of many key differentiators driving this development is our deal with expertise. We’ve invested closely in digital transformation, integrating superior AI, automation, and analytics into our operations.
These improvements not solely improve service effectivity and buyer expertise but additionally create scalable, future-ready options that assist us keep forward of regulatory and demographic shifts throughout world markets.
Our expansive footprint—spanning over 70 international locations—gives sturdy income diversification and mitigates market-specific dangers. Mixed with long-term authorities contracts, this ensures a steady, recurring income stream that helps sustainable development.
What moments in your journey stand out as most defining?
Shikhar Aggarwal: Main BLS Worldwide’s growth into over 70 international locations was a defining milestone—it proved our capability to ship at a worldwide scale. Successful the unique world contract for Spain visa companies was one other pivotal achievement, cementing our popularity as a trusted accomplice to governments.
On the digital companies entrance, the general public itemizing of BLS E-Companies additionally marked a turning level, enabling us to increase important citizen and monetary companies to rural India—furthering our mission to make government-to-citizen companies extra accessible, inclusive, and technology-driven.
One other defining chapter in our journey has been our exceptional enterprise development. Fiscal Yr 2026 marks 20 years of BLS Worldwide’s evolution from a single-country operation to a worldwide tech-enabled service chief working with 46+ shopper governments.
Over the past 5 years, our income multiplied 4.6x—from Rs. 478 crores in FY21 to Rs. 2,193 crores in FY25—whereas working revenue grew 15.3x throughout the identical interval, with margins bettering from 8.5% to twenty-eight.7%.
These milestones not solely showcase our monetary power but additionally our capability to construct scalable, technology-led options that create sustainable worth for all stakeholders.
What classes would you share with younger entrepreneurs?
Shikhar Aggarwal: For younger entrepreneurs, probably the most essential classes is to embrace innovation responsibly. Know-how shouldn’t simply be about pace or scale—it should improve safety, transparency, and repair high quality. At BLS Worldwide, integrating AI, automation, and safe authentication reworked the citizen companies area whereas constructing belief.
Equally essential is establishing sturdy governance early on; credibility is the inspiration of any lasting enterprise, particularly when working with governments or regulated sectors.
One other key lesson is adaptability—success comes from understanding native wants whereas sustaining world requirements. Our capability to scale at a worldwide stage stemmed from this stability. Public-private partnerships are additionally a robust development mannequin, providing alternatives to create impression at scale.
And above all, resilience issues—entrepreneurship is a protracted journey stuffed with challenges and pivots. Staying targeted, versatile, and dedicated to purpose-driven development could make all of the distinction.
What are your key priorities for the following 3–5 years?
Shikhar Aggarwal: Our key precedence over the following 3–5 years is to maintain sturdy, natural development from our current enterprise base, focusing on 20–25% year-on-year growth.
This development will probably be pushed by absolutely deploying current contracts, enhancing operational efficiencies, driving expertise enablement and repair premiumization, and unlocking synergies from latest acquisitions by backend integration and shared infrastructure.
On the similar time, BLS Worldwide is effectively positioned to capitalize on the broader $1.5–2 billion world visa outsourcing alternative and the increasing 14% annual visa market—representing extra upside past our core development focus.
These initiatives will allow us to ship scalable, technology-led development whereas reinforcing our place as a trusted accomplice to governments and residents worldwide.
Mr. Aggarwal’s imaginative and prescient continues to place BLS Worldwide as a worldwide benchmark in remodeling public service supply by expertise and reliability.
| Are you an
Entrepreneur or Startup? Do you will have a Success Story to Share? SugerMint want to share your success story. We cowl entrepreneur Tales, Startup Information, Girls entrepreneur tales, and Startup tales |
Learn extra Success tales of Indian entrepreneurs, Girls Entrepreneurs & startups tales at SugerMint. Observe us on Twitter, Instagram, Fb, LinkedIn
