DRMumbai: Vinay Malhotra, Regional Group COO – South Asia, Middle East and China, VFS Global, in an exclusive chat with Destination Reporter, speaks about the company’s impressive run in India, enhancing customer experience and many more.
Multiple factors, including changing travel & spending patterns and increased disposable income have contributed to the Company’s growth in India over the last few years
Congratulations on the 200 million visa applications milestone. It took 14 years for the first 100 million and only 4 years for the next 100 million. With outbound travel exploding when do you think you will hit the half a billion and one billion mark?
Thank you for the kind wishes. We owe this success to the unwavering support of our customers, client governments and travel trade partners, and we appreciate their faith in our services and capabilities. In India we have witnessed an exponential growth in travel over the last years owing to multiple factors, including changing travel & spending patterns and increased disposable income. Our annual numbers are reflective of the travel trajectory during the year to destinations that travellers require visas to visit.
What is the growth you are witnessing in visa applications in 2019 vis-a-vis last few years? This year the ICC CWC has added 2,00,000 UK visa applications too. Which are some of the other spikes this year?
We will be unable to comment on 2019 numbers at this time. However, apart from the CWC, other spikes were seen around the regular tourist season in line with past trends.
This year during ICC CWC there were concerns around the delay in visa processing due to unprecedented rush in applications. What are you doing differently for the same not to happen during the Australia tour of India in 2020?
Every year, as we approach peak season or special events such as the upcoming T20 in Australia, we enhance our efforts and build efficiencies to cater to the increased footfalls and the accompanying challenges that customers may face. Due to high volumes of applications this peak season, we have seen issues which have been learning experiences that have only led to us setting up better fail-safes and improving the quality of our customer service.
Some of these measures include extended working hours at our centres to ensure all the customers who walk in that day are attended to – no matter the logistical challenges, with a few remaining open even on Saturdays. We provide an array of optional services like doorstep visa service, walk-in without an appointment, and prime time services (for applicants who find it difficult to come in during regular hours) to ease the process further.
Specifically for Australia visa applicants, VFS Global offers Online Visa Assist to provide customers professional guidance through the online visa application process. We ensure constant communication with applicants through media and our social media platforms to encourage early applications, while advising them of the right process to do that, well in time and also warning them against possible visa frauds. We remain committed to continue maintaining the highest level of customer service, which has earned us the invaluable trust of customers, travel trade, and governments worldwide, over the last 18 years.
Of the total visa centers in India, how many are in tier II and III cities? What is the percentage of applications and growth you are seeing from these cities?
We have a network of centres in 17 cities in India, many of which are located in tier II and III cities, and we have observed a noteworthy increase in the number of Indians from these regions travelling internationally, encouraged by higher disposable income, better air connectivity, easier visa policies and application processes, among others.
This is strongly reflected in the YoY growth in 2018 witnessed in visa applications from Jalandhar (66 per cent), Chandigarh (54 per cent), Puducherry (43 per cent) and Goa (45 per cent). Our doorstep visa services notched over 100 per cent YoY increase in 2018 from Lucknow, Shillong, Nagpur, Bhubaneshwar, Mangalore and Gurugram. Allahabad, Amravati, Thiruvananthapuram, Erode, Surat, Nagercoil, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Tiruppur, Muzzafarpur, Indore, Palakkad, Guwahati, Jodhpur and Chattarpur entered the demand circle for the first time in 2018.
In terms of visa applications which are the top five destinations? Can you name a few emerging destinations showing new-found traction?
While the top destinations such as Canada, Schengen group of countries, UK and US (in alphabetical order) continue to be as popular, a growing preference for offbeat destinations such as Czech Republic, Japan, Turkey and South Africa (in no particular order) has been noticed.
How is the Premium Lounge doing?
The Premium Lounge has been immensely popular among our customers. This optional service offers end-to-end personalised assistance throughout the visa application process, from form filling to biometric enrolment, all in a plush ambience, adding to customers’ convenience. The lounge, which is an optional service, witnessed significant demand in the peak season. This goes to show the growing demand for personalisation in customer service, especially for sensitive processes like visa applications. It is important to know that the Premium Lounge addresses only the convenience and speed during the application submission process. VFS Global has no influence on the speed of the process and the decision making at an Embassy or Consulate.
How are technology and process innovation helping enhance the customer experience? What have been some of the industry-firsts here?
Our evolution towards becoming the best visa services provider for both customers and governments rides on continuous technological advancement. This has enabled us to improve our quality of service and the ability to grow our customer base each year. We have several industry-first services such as our doorstep visa service which brings the visa application process to the customer’s home or office, offering enhanced convenience. The initiative has seen huge success, with 2018 recording an overall 144 per cent growth in demand across India. ViVA, our AI-powered chatbots is the first digital employee which interacts with customers to address basic queries 24×7, significantly reducing turnaround times and providing essential support to our customer service teams. ViVA helps us gather insights into our customers’ behaviors and what they want, thereby helping us improve our services and add suitable offerings, enhancing the overall customer experience.
Our technology will continue to evolve as we identify and understand our customers’ requirements, and launch innovations that will enhance the visa application process and cross-border travel of the future.
There have been complaints about exorbitant service charges and/or arbitrary charges related to express appointments and document verification etc. by VFS. Can you clarify?
VFS Global’s value-added services are developed in response to specific demands for greater accessibility, personalisation and convenience in visa services – they are determined in consultation with, and approved by, the respective governments. These services are purely optional – if a customer does not wish for this service, he or she does not have to opt for it. These services can be chosen at any point during the online application journey on the website or during application submission at the Visa Application Centre, and have no impact on the outcome of a visa decision, which is purely with the respective Embassy or Consulate. All communication in our Visa Application Centres, on application websites and information notices clearly mention these services are optional, with full transparency about the service and cost. The service charges, as well as fees for other optional services, are regulated and approved by each client government that we work with.
