Public-private partnerships are sold as efficiency. In Indian consular work, they did the opposite. The state kept the power. A private contractor took the counter, the fees, and the excuses. The citizen was left paying both.

Over several years, we dealt with BLS and VFS in three developed countries. Outside their offices, the host country functioned. Inside, the Indian queue reappeared: collapsing websites, mutating document lists, cash charges without receipts, and no one willing to own a rejection. An application was accepted and paid for, then blocked by a new demand that would have required travel to another country. The refund arrived only after a legal notice.

Outsourcing a rotten bureaucracy does not civilize it. It franchises the extraction, multiplies the visits, and hides responsibility. The mission makes the rules. The contractor collects. The applicant absorbs the cost.

Read “BLS / VFS: Indian Embassies’ Private Intermediaries” at Mises India →