India’s Ministry of External Affairs has started to outsource visa applications and collections to private agencies.

This measure aims to fulfil the demand for visas to India, as Tourism Ministry gets regular complaints from foreign tour agencies that Indian embassies can barely cope with the requests for visas.

India figures among the top ten world travel destinations and is the fifth choicest place to visit, but, as the MEA claims, its staff strength in most missions is nowhere near the numbers required to meet the rapidly increasing demand for Indian visas.

Hopefully, outsourcing some key visa services will help solve the problem. According to The Hindustan Times, in December 2005 Dhaka, Bangladesh has become the first mission where visa applications and collections have been outsourced to private agencies. Dhaka faces a massive demand for visas from those wanting to visit India for pilgrimage, treatment and shopping. Either Rome or Madrid is being considered to shortly begin outsourcing of visa applications and collections.

Sources: http://travelvideo.tv/news/ , http://www.indianexpress.com/

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