KOTA KINABALU, Aug 6 — India is to start a Visa Service Centre (VSC)  here by end of this month to cater for the  people in this part of the region to apply for visas to visit India.

High Commissioner of India to Malaysia, TS Tirumurti said as India had introduced the bio-metric system on April 1, it was  compulsory for everyone including all Malaysians planning to visit the sub-continent to follow the system, whereby the visa applicants would be identified using fingerprints, iris scan and photograph.

“What we are trying to do is to decrease the inconvenience for Malaysians, including people from Sabah and the office here will have the bio-metric facilities. The visa applications can be submitted directly here and it will be processed in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

Tirumurti was speaking to the media after paying a courtesy call on Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah Tun Juhar Mahiruddin at the Istana here this morning.

He said the High Commission had opened similar centres in Penang, Johor, Ipoh and Melaka apart from the office at the High  Commission in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, Tirumurti also announced that an Indian Naval Ship, INS Ranvijay, arrived in Sabah today.

“This is a good-will visit and as Sabah is extremely an important naval base for Malaysia, the presence of the Indian ship here is a sign of solidarity with Sabah and Malaysia,” he added.

Tirumurti said besides the significant investment in the paper and pulp sector with Sabah Forest Industry, many Indian companies were also looking actively to invest in  Oil and Gas industries in Sabah.

“We have a new government in New Delhi now and the priorities of the government is not only to attract investment from countries like Malaysia but also to see how we can engage with Malaysia and Sabah,” he said. — Bernama