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The Federation, led by its chairman I A Siddiqui and Karnataka Congress leader Saleem Ahmed, told the minister that every year, over 45,000 Haj pilgrims and 10,000 Umra pilgrims travel to the holy place from South India.
A visa office in Bangalore would greatly help all these pilgrims as they now have to travel to either Delhi or Mumbai for the visa formalities.
The Federation said Saudi Arabian government has said it was considering opening visa centres in countries that send large number of pilgrims.
India is the second country sending the largest number of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. Bangalore fulfils all the requirements for setting up the visa office, it added. Bangalore was the ideal gateway to India as it was the fastest growing cosmopolitan city and the IT hub. It was also well-connected with all the southern states.