03. Leaders
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As the COO of Mainland China, Hong Kong and Mongolia, what is your vision for the region?

My vision is to achieve best in-class operations with robust process governance and innovative technology for customers and employees. My focus is on business development and to ensure profitability for the organisation leading to our competitive advantage in the market whilst promoting growth, learning and development, employee engagement and career progression.

Please highlight some of the complexities in managing operations in your region.

Due to the stringent laws of the land such as multiple authority and seeking government approvals for operating our kind of business, and the geographical diversity with province-specific rules, the region has its own complexities, which we handle quite well.

How have you implemented your learnings from the pandemic in the post-Covid world?

The pandemic taught us that change is the only constant and we should always be prepared for agile decision making to cope with challenging times. We made hard and wise decisions which included downsizing our inventories, ensuring we manage the financial expectations of the company, keeping the humane factor and business in mind.

We implemented many of these decisions on our post pandemic operations such as optimum business continuity and disaster recovery plans, cost control measures, plug n play processes independent of inventories such as Visa At Your Doorstep, online presence, etc.

What is the volume and growth of visa demand so far after the reopening of China’s outbound travel?

Currently, due to the lack of destination inventory i.e., flight/hotels/scarce visa appointments, we have witnessed the counts currently at 40 per cent of pre-pandemic levels. Through various sources, constant communication with client governments and market surveys, we are expecting to reach close to 50 per cent of 2019 levels by the end of this year. In 2024, we are expecting the counts to be 70 per cent of 2019 levels.

How far is the global tourism industry recovering from the perspective of visa issuance?

China was the last region to open its borders. Hence, due to gradual flight resumptions as well as missions not having adequate decision-making diplomats, the restart was slower than expected.The Tour groups (ADS - approved destination status) also commenced only recently. With resumption of flights towards Europe, our majority clientele destination is experiencing slower recovery because of narrow room for price reduction, competitive pressure, macroeconomic growth, spending power, inflation, carbon mitigation and the rise and ease of securing visas at smaller markets such as southeast Asia. By the end of 2023, flight resumption will be at 60-65 per cent of pre-pandemic levels and surpass 2019 levels only by mid-2024.

How do you foresee travel demand in China shape up by the end of 2023?

With the improving destination inventory such as flight options, relaxation in visa appointments as more diplomats are appointed at the Embassies and Consulates, locals will have a strong desire to travel to Europe and spend on luxury travel. Chinese tourists are welcomed at various destinations such as Switzerland, Hungary, Italy, Thailand, The United Kingdom and The United States of America.

How has your career journey been at VFS Global?

My journey at VFS Global has been full of value addition to my professional as well as personal profile. In 2004, when I joined VFS Global to lead the China business operations, we had only one client government operating in 12 cities. Since then, we have seen exponential growth and stronger client engagement.

During this journey over the last 19 years, my key achievements include starting the VFS Global operations in China for outbound business, China visa application centres in 14 countries for inbound business, launching China in luxury, piloting VASCO in China and expanding the Japan visa application centres to 10 countries.Today, we service 37 client governments in 17 cities through 410 visa application centres in the region. Our application volume has reached 39 million+ since inception.

We have a diverse workforce of 1200+ employees, including 14 nationalities, speaking 10 languages. Majority of our team members have grown since inception and taken up higher roles within the region and in other countries.

Sustainability has been a key growth driver for VFS Global. What is the roadmap for your region?

My long-term plan is to conceptualise and develop our competitive advantage, keeping in mind the mantra of Trust, Technology and Technique which were the pillars of VFS Global when we started operations. This will be a journey of perfectly mentoring our employees to ensure everyone learns and grows with the organisation whilst ensuring we meet our client governments’ contractual obligations and achieve our financial goals.

What is the communications approach for VFS Global which works with governments and visa applicants catering to diverse sets of audience?

As VFS Global enables cross border mobility and works with multiple stakeholders, it’s important for us to consistently share the right information and adopt a balanced approach to act as a conduit between client governments and applicants.

Given the digitally connected world we live in, stakeholder sentiments is a key growth metric for any business. So, the onus lies on us to become the authentic source of disbursing information. This was especially evident during the pandemic when applicants relied on us to get accurate and timely information.

Being transparent, responsible, and accountable are critical for all stages of our communications approach. A robust communication strategy is an important aspect as it enables us to control the narratives that influence popular perception and maintain a positive image about our organisation.

How do you manage your communication needs in this constantly evolving digital era?

With audiences widely dispersed, it’s important for us to listen to them. This enables us to build better engagement and identify any potential risks much ahead of time.

With new mediums of communication increasingly gaining popularity, we must stay a step ahead with outreach strategies. For instance, we have collaborated with social media influencers to create awareness among customers about why they should apply for visas in advance. In the future, we want to tap this network to create awareness about how customers should beware of frauds and scamsters. New-age content formats such as podcasts, reels and vlogs help us to connect with our audiences, and yet stay relevant. To succeed in today’s ever-evolving digital era, we must focus on crafting meaningful experiences that strike a chord with audiences and make a deeper impact. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one such powerful tool which will help in data-driven campaigns, automating operational tasks, and analysing online interaction.

We consistently innovate our communications strategy to be in sync with how audiences consume information.

What were your learnings from the pandemic that have been implemented in the current communications approach?

During the pandemic, we undertook a two-pronged approach that included sensitisation (through information sharing) and upholding optimism (on travel resumption). We drove the former through consistent rounds of sharing information across all digital and social channels of the company and the media community.

The pandemic taught us agility and flexibility at the same time. Imbibing these qualities in our communications strategy has empowered us to engage with different segments of audience.

What is the importance of internal communications for our organisation that has a global workforce?

At VFS Global, we follow the People First approach as we believe it’s the key to build a more engaged and motivated workforce. Happy employees lead to happy customers. Internal Communications plays a critical role in this aspect as it increases employee engagement and make employees feel more connected with the organisation.

Employees are the best brand ambassadors of a company. It’s imperative that all of them speak the same language when it comes to representing the organisation in a public forum. This is where Internal Communications plays a key role in ensuring that the company's vision and values are cascaded across all hierarchies.

Can you throw light on the various community outreach programmes that have been undertaken?

Sustainability has evolved as a key business anchor and growth driver for us at VFS Global.

For our community outreach programmes and corporate social responsibility activities, we focus on promoting education, conserving environment and caring with empathy as our key pillars. We partner with credible social organisations to drive sustainable development programmes that have a long-term positive impact aligned with local government priorities.

In 2022, we undertook 100+ community initiatives touching the lives of more than 59,000 individuals across 35 countries in partnership with over 40 charitable, social and community organisations.

Supporting our communities is a long-term investment for us, aimed at addressing community development priorities.