1. At a Glance
If there were an Olympic sport for paperwork, BLS International Services Ltd would be walking away with multiple gold medals, a silver stapler, and a laminated certificate signed by 46 governments. This is a company that literally makes money by moving files faster than embassies can say “appointment slot unavailable.”
As of the latest numbers, BLS sits on a market cap of ~₹12,039 Cr with the stock trading around ₹292, down sharply from its euphoric high of ₹440. In the last 3 months, the stock is down ~6.9%, and over 1 year, it’s corrected by a painful ~34%—a reminder that even monopolies in bureaucracy are not immune to market mood swings.
But here’s the twist: while the stock sulked, the business didn’t get the memo. Q3 FY26 revenue came in at ₹736 Cr (+43.6% YoY), with PAT of ₹170 Cr (+34.8% YoY) and an operating margin of ~27%. ROE and ROCE are flexing at ~34%, debt-to-equity is a polite 0.19, and promoter holding remains a chunky ~70.4% with zero pledging.
So the obvious question: Is this a fallen darling, or is the market just allergic to boringly efficient cash machines?
2. Introduction
BLS International is not sexy. There is no app download frenzy, no influencer marketing, no “AI-powered blockchain metaverse synergy.” What BLS has instead is something far more dangerous in the long run: government contracts, multi-year renewals, and citizens who cannot avoid the service.
If you’ve ever applied for a visa, booked an appointment, submitted biometrics, or paid a mysterious “service fee” without fully understanding why, congratulations—you’ve likely contributed to BLS’s revenue line. The company operates at the intersection of travel, governance, and frustration, which happens to be a very stable business model.
Founded as part of the four-decade-old BLS Group, the company has quietly become one of the largest visa outsourcing players globally, operating across 66 countries and serving 46+ governments. As of Q1 FY25, it has processed over 36 crore visa applications. That’s not a typo—that’s a population larger than the United States lining up with documents and photographs.
What makes BLS interesting today is not just the core visa business, but its aggressive pivot into digital
services, Aadhaar infrastructure, banking correspondents, and financial distribution. In simple terms, BLS is trying to evolve from “visa guy” to “government backend-as-a-service.”
But with acquisitions flying, margins expanding, and regulatory hiccups (including a temporary MEA debarment that was later quashed), the story is no longer boring. It’s bureaucratic… with masala.
3. Business Model – WTF Do They Even Do?
Let’s break it down like you’re explaining this to a friend who thinks embassies run on Google Forms.
Segment 1: Visa & Consular Services (≈83% of Q1 FY25 revenue)
This is the OG cash cow. Governments don’t want to deal with crowds, queues, biometrics, photocopies, courier tracking, or angry applicants. So they outsource the whole mess to BLS.
Services include:
- Visa application processing
- Document verification & attestation
- Biometrics & passport services
- E-visas, courier, insurance, translations
- Ancillary services that quietly fatten margins
Between FY22 and FY24, gross segment revenue grew ~80%, driven by:
- 91% growth in applications
- 31% increase in net revenue per application, from ₹1,638 (FY22) to ₹2,146 (FY24)
- And then the cherry on top: ₹2,653 per application in Q1 FY25
So not only are more people applying, BLS is charging more per head. Visa inflation, anyone?
Segment 2: Digital Services (≈14% of Q1 FY25 revenue)
This is where BLS morphs from “visa clerk” to digital sarkari middleware.
Offerings include:
- Aadhaar, PAN, birth/death certificates
- Banking correspondent services
- Assisted e-services (700+ citizen services)
- Ticketing, PoS, doorstep banking
The scale is wild:
- 27,000+ business correspondents
- 1.1 lakh touchpoints
- 26,000+ centres
