An Indian Visa Application Centre, which has outsourced its application process to a niche player in the market, has been opened here to meet the burgeoning demand.

The centre was inaugurated by India's Ambassador to China Nirupama Rao who said an "exponential" growth in the number of visa seekers from China to India was expected.

She said 51,433 visas were issued last year as against 36,150 in 2006.

Rao said that the centre was being opened at "an opportune" time as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is visiting China on a three-day trip from January 13 and would hold talks with the Chinese leadership to further strengthen the cooperative partnership between the two countries.

Eleven more such centres across China are in the pipeline.

The remaining centres would be opened in Shanghai, Kunming, Xiamen, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Shenyang, Jinan, Wuhan and Chongqing, said Kishen Singh, Vice President, North Asia, VFS Global.

The contract for outsourcing has been awarded to VFS Global, a part of the Kuoni Travel Group, and a niche player in the outsourcing spectrum.

VFS Global was the first Indian company to be awarded the contract for outsource services by the Indian mission last year, its executives said.

VFS Global has been awarded contracts to provide outsource service to the Indian embassies in Thailand, China, France and the Indian High Commissions in the UK, Sri Lanka and Australia, Kuoni Travel Group CEO and Managing Director for India and South Asia Zubin Karkaria said.

The VFS processes over six million visa applications per annum across its 260 plus offices worldwide, he said.