Tag Archives: Joint Managing Director

United Kingdom Visas & Immigration, (UKVI), a division of the UK Home Office, responsible for deciding who can visit and stay within the UK, has awarded Sopra Steria a new contract to enable visa renewals for those individuals who are already in the UK. BLS International Services will be supporting Sopra Steria and UKVI by establishing and delivering some of the key value-added services under the contract. BLS International Services currently handles approximately 12 million visa applications annually across its global network. It will now assist in the processing applications for permission to remain in the UK on behalf of the Home Office. Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS International, comments, “We are privileged to be part of this new partnership in the United Kingdom. It reinforces our company’s position within the UK and significantly enhances our stature as a leading service partner to client Governments worldwide. We will deploy our world class solution to provide an innovative and convenient service to the UK Home Office and its applicants.”

The theme of Maharashtra Tourism’s stall at ITB Berlin this year was ‘Sustainable Tourism’ and ‘Tourism 360-degree’ to offer new avenues of tourism. The delegation was led by Vijay Gautam, IAS, Principal Secretary, Tourism & Culture and Aashutosh Rathod, Joint Managing Director, MTDC who presided over key B2B meetings and spoke about the prospects of ensuing collaborations with counterparts to attract tourists all across the globe. Maharashtra aims to provide a meaningful experience to travellers, creating awareness about sustainability matters and encouraging these practices among them. The response generated by travel and tour operators for MTDC’s initiative at ITB Berlin 2018 was promising.

BLS International Services has signed a contract with Embassy of the People’s Republic of Algeria in India to offer visa outsourcing and consular services through five visa application and attestation centers in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Trivandrum. BLS international is accredited to facilitate Algerian visa processing in India from submission of applications to collection of visas along with attestation services. This contract has been signed to provide efficient visa and attestation services to people traveling to Algeria for business, work or leisure. Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS International Services, says, “We cherish the progressive relations with the Embassy of the People’s Republic of Algeria and are delighted to have been chosen to provide consular services to them in India. It has been our endeavor to always provide state-of the-art services to our clients by creating value for our stakeholders.” While signing the contract, Algerian Ambassador in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal, H.E Hamza Yahia-Cherif said, “We are pleased to have partnered with BLS International for facilitating Algeria visa processing in India. We hope this association to be fruitful and that it will further strengthen the Algerian-Indian relationship in future.” BLS International shall also aim to provide advance value added services like door-stop delivery / courier facility of passports, SMS, assistance in filling visa application forms, printing and photocopying for the benefit of visa applicants at the premises. All BLS centres are equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and trained staff to provide complete hassle free services to visa application.

Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) participated at World Travel Market, London, to showcase the rich diversity of Maharashtra. Maharashtra pavilion at WTM London 2017 was inaugurated by Jaykumar Rawal, Minister of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra, in the presence of Rashmi Verma, Secretary-Tourism, Government of India, and Aashutosh Rathod, Joint Managing Director, MTDC. This year, MTDC promoted wildlife tourism, heritage tourism, fort tourism, heli tourism, medical tourism, city tours, wine tourism, mine tourism, cruise tourism and wellness tourism. Maharashtra is fast emerging as one of the most interesting and productive state for the travel industry both for leisure and business purpose. MTDC is also focusing on associating with hospitality colleges including ICE to develop and build skills and provide internship to students in MTDC’s resorts at various locations in Maharashtra. Rawal say, “It is wonderful to discover the world under one roof and get encouraged by industry leaders and their innovations in the travel sector. This is a brilliant stage to growour businesses and meet the new stakeholders around the world under one roof. Maharashtra has rich tourist destinations to fulfill the needs of tourists across the globe. Participation at WTM London 2017 was our golden opportunity to aggressively market the tourism inventories, vibrant culture, unique destinations and investment opportunities in Maharashtra.”

Maharashtra’s Minister of Tourism Jaykumar Jitendrasinh Rawal met H.K Mauder Kakkur, Managing Director, NYC & Company New York, to discuss the prospects of tourism in Mumbai and Maharashtra in order to promote ‘The Brand Maharashtra’ in the City of New York. Vijay Waghmare, Managing Director, MTDC and Aashutosh Rathod, Joint Managing Director, MTDC, were also present at the event.

Premier Hotels of Asia has added another feather to its cap with its official appointment as the Sales and Marketing representative in India for The Chatwal, New York. Karan Singh, Joint Managing Director, Premier Hotels of Asia, says, “The hotel represents excellent value as a luxury hotel. Our close alliance with business partners in the travel industry and trade associations gives us the advantage of reaching out to  affluent travellers and the appropriate segment in the most focused way.” The Chatwal Hotel, situated between Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park and the Theatre District in the heart of Manhattan was originally built in 1905 by Stanford White and was restored and re-launched in 2010 with 76 rooms and suites, several of which feature spacious terraces. The landmark hotel is home to the Red Door Spa by Elizabeth Arden, and the famous Lambs Club Restaurant, while its bespoke services make it an ideal choice for both leisure and business travellers.

BLS International has announced the opening of their first Spanish Visa Application Center (VAC) in Chennai. After winning the global contract from the Government of Spain in December, 2016, this is the 3rd Spanish Visa Application center opened in India, after New Delhi and Mumbai. The company currently operates 78 Spain Visa Application Centers spread across 37 countries. In future that the center will offer value added services like SMS service alert, photocopy service and convenient courier services to the applicants. Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS International Services, shares, “BLS International has always endeavored to offer first-class services to its customers. We charge the applicant a nominal fee under the umbrella of word class services given in return to them. Our dedicated and pro-active staff is always ready to cater to the needs of the applicants. We aim to revolutionize the Spanish Visa application experience and the newly launched center in Chennai is yet another milestone. Since the commencement of the operations on the 19thDecember 2016, we have processed in excess of 200 applications per day across India and expect the numbers to grow by 20 % this year. With the opening of new centers in India it will further strengthen ties to the South market for both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and BLS International. We are looking at processing approximately 1.8 million applications annually through our global network.”