| BLS International Services Limited | ||||||
| Long-term rating removed from 'Watch Developing'; Rating Reaffirmed; 'Crisil A1' reassigned to short-term bank debt | ||||||
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| Note: None of the Directors on Crisil Ratings Limited’s Board are members of rating committee and thus do not participate in discussion or assignment of any ratings. The Board of Directors also does not discuss any ratings at its meetings. | ||||||
| 1 crore = 10 million | ||||||
| Refer to Annexure for Details of Instruments & Bank Facilities |
Detailed Rationale Crisil Ratings has removed its rating on the long-term bank facilities of BLS International Services Limited (BLS; a part of the BLS International group) from ‘Rating Watch with Developing Implications’ and has reaffirmed the rating at ‘Crisil A+’ while assigning a ‘Stable’ outlook. Crisil Ratings has also reassigned its ‘Crisil A1’ rating to the short term bank facilities of BLS.
Crisil Ratings had placed its rating on watch on October 23, 2025, following the announcement made by BLS regarding the order issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), which debars the company from participating in new tenders for Indian Missions for a period of two years. While the order was quashed in December 2025, Crisil Ratings wanted to monitor any potential impact on the original contracts of the MEA or any impact on the company's bidding abilities and impact on the financial performance of the company.
As per the current updates, Crisil Ratings believes that there is no impact on the group’s financial performance, as evident from revenue of Rs. 2184 crores with operating margins of nearly 28% till December 2025 (9 months fiscal 2026), which is better than the previous year's corresponding period. The company is expected to close the full year fiscal 2026 at Rs. 2900–3000 crores with operating margins of nearly 28–29%, which is in line with Crisil's earlier expectations. Furthermore, the business risk profile is supported by the new tender awarded by the MEA for China and multiple orders from Spain during the January–March 2026 period, which indicates no impact of the MEA order on the company's ability to bid for tenders and win them.
The ratings also reflect the established market position of the BLS International group in the visa outsourcing services sector, and its robust financial risk profile. These strengths are partially offset by moderate operating performance, susceptibility to change in regulations by concerned ministries of various countries and risks related to the growth strategy through acquisitions. |
Analytical Approach Crisil Ratings has combined the business and financial risk profiles of BLS, BLS International FZE (100% subsidiary of BLS), and their step-down subsidiaries. This is because all these entities, collectively referred to as the BLS International group, are under a common management and have strong financial linkages via equity share capital, revenue sharing, and loans and advances.
Please refer Annexure - List of Entities Consolidated, which captures the list of entities considered and their analytical treatment of consolidation. |
Key Rating Drivers - Strengths Established market position in the visa services business: The three-decade-long experience of the promoters has helped the group build a strong brand name and market position. Over the years, the group has expanded its reach to various countries and is now present in more than 70 countries, catering to 45-50 clients in government sectors worldwide. It is one of the largest players globally in visa, passport, consular and citizen services. The revenue is expected to increase to Rs 2,900 - 3000 crore during fiscal 2026, from Rs 2,211 crore in fiscal 2025, reflecting on-year growth of nearly 35%, the growth is supported by steady growth in tourism and improved penetration in digital business through on-boarding of new customers and incremental business from iData and recently acquired entities (Aadifidelis Solutions Pvt. Ltd and Citizenship Invests DMCC, Dubai). Crisil Ratings believes that the business risk profile shall further improve over the medium term, backed by
Robust financial risk profile: The financial risk profile of the BLS International group will continue to strengthen, backed by better accretion to reserve and prudent working capital management. The adjusted networth, projected at Rs 2400-2600 as on March 31, 2026 (up from Rs 1,908 crore as on March 31, 2025), provides strong financial flexibility to raise external debt for business requirements, as and when required. With minimal debt capital structure and improving operating margin, the debt protection metrics shall also remain strong. In absence of any debt-funded capex or acquisition plan, or any stretch in the working capital cycle, financial flexibility is slated to improve. |
Key Rating Drivers - Weaknesses Moderate operating performance: The group's business performance is bifurcated into two business segments — Visa & consular business, and Digital/business correspondence business. The group's scalability is generated from the visa business to the tune of 60–70% and remaining from the digital business. Although, the business from digital/business correspondence segment is improving on a year-on-year basis, it remains moderate currently with an estimated revenue of ~Rs 800 crore for 9M-fiscal 2026. Furthermore, the operating profitability in the digital business segment remains modest at <10%, which can further impinge the growth in group’s operating profitability. Given the expected ramp up in digital business segments, Crisil Ratings expects the group’s operating profitability to remain constrained. Going forward, sustained improvement in the Digital business, coupled with steady growth in the Visa business segment, will be crucial in enhancing the group's business risk profile and will remain a key rating sensitivity factor.
Susceptibility to changes in regulations by the concerned ministries of various countries: Contracts with diplomatic missions are generally tender-based and have certain pre-requisites such as experience in visa outsourcing, a robust credit history, adequate information technology infrastructure, operational expertise, and a strong background check. Thus, non-renewal of contracts at the end of their term or inability to bag new contracts could weaken the revenue profile. Though the established market position of the group and subsequent growth in business reported over the years mitigated the aforestated risk, the sustenance of growth remains monitorable. Fall in demand and/or any unfavorable acquisition could also adversely impact on the overall business risk profile.
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Liquidity Strong The liquidity is supported by strong cash accrual, nil bank limit utilisation and prudent working capital management. Expected annual cash accrual of Rs 680-720 crore should cover the incremental working capital expenses, capex or acquisition plans and minimal term debt obligation of Rs 25-28 crore over the medium term. Furthermore, sizeable cash reserve of nearly Rs. 1,294 crores as of December 2025 and strong networth will enhance the overall financial flexibility of the group. |
Outlook Stable The BLS International group will continue to benefit from its established market position in the visa services business and its presence across diverse segments including passport, consular and citizen services. |
Rating sensitivity factors Upward factors
Downward factors
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About the Company Established in 1983, BLS is a specialist provider of visa, passport and attestation services to Indian missions across the world. It serves the diplomatic missions by managing all administrative and non-judgmental tasks related to the entire life cycle of a visa application process.
The company was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange and Metropolitan Stock Exchange in 2016. BLS is present in over 70 countries either through joint ventures with local players or through wholly owned subsidiaries (BLS International FZE and others). |
Key Financial Indicators
Consolidated Numbers |
Any other information: Not applicable |
Note on complexity levels of the rated instrument: Annexure: List of instruments and names of regulators of the instruments As required by SEBI CRA Circular dated Feb 10, 2026, a list of activities or instruments falling under the purview of various FSRs, along with the names of respective FSRs, is being disclosed below:
* Includes securitisation transactions involving assignee payout, acquirer's payout. ~ The rated instrument may involve issuance of different instruments such as debt securities (listed or otherwise), bank loans, commercial paper (listed or otherwise), etc. The regulator of the instrument may accordingly be SEBI, RBI or MCA and can only be determined upon issuance. In PRs subsequent to issuance(s), Crisil Ratings Limited shall separately capture the rated quantum details along with names of respective regulators. ^ Includes bank facilities such as liquidity facility, second loss facility that are part of securitisation transactions. # There is no instrument being rated and hence, Regulator of the Instrument is not applicable. The rating scale and definitions are being followed as stipulated in SEBI Master Circular for CRAs. @ These ratings were assigned during regulatory regime prior to introduction of SEBI CRA Circular dated Feb 10, 2026 and the investor side regulators have accordingly been included.
Note: Kindly note that for activities or instruments falling under the purview of FSRs other than SEBI, the grievance/dispute redressal mechanisms and investor protection mechanisms provided by SEBI shall not be available. |
Annexure - Details of Instrument(s)
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Annexure – List of entities consolidated
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| Annexure - Rating History for last 3 Years | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Annexure - Details of Bank Lenders & Facilities | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Criteria Details
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