diff --git a/format-xls/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/format/xls/input/XlsInputFormat.java b/format-xls/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/format/xls/input/XlsInputFormat.java
index f53d66d33..c2d207959 100644
--- a/format-xls/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/format/xls/input/XlsInputFormat.java
+++ b/format-xls/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/format/xls/input/XlsInputFormat.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 package io.cdap.plugin.format.xls.input;
 
 import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import io.cdap.cdap.api.data.format.StructuredRecord;
 import io.cdap.cdap.api.data.schema.Schema;
 import org.apache.hadoop.conf.Configuration;
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.input.CombineFileSplit;
 import org.apache.hadoop.mapreduce.lib.input.TextInputFormat;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Cell;
+import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.CellType;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.DataFormatter;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.FormulaEvaluator;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Row;
@@ -66,7 +68,7 @@ public RecordReader<LongWritable, StructuredRecord> createRecordReader(InputSpli
   public static class XlsRecordReader extends RecordReader<LongWritable, StructuredRecord> {
     // DataFormatter to format and get each cell's value as String
     DataFormatter formatter;
-    FormulaEvaluator evaluator;
+    FormulaEvaluator formulaEvaluator;
     // Map key that represents the row index.
     private LongWritable key;
     // Map value that represents an excel row
@@ -91,6 +93,7 @@ public void initialize(InputSplit genericSplit, TaskAttemptContext context) thro
       Path file = split.getPath(0);
       String schema = context.getConfiguration().get("schema");
       formatter = new DataFormatter();
+      formatter.setUseCachedValuesForFormulaCells(true);
       outputSchema = schema != null ? Schema.parseJson(schema) : null;
       FileSystem fs = file.getFileSystem(job);
       fileIn = fs.open(split.getPath(0));
@@ -100,7 +103,8 @@ public void initialize(InputSplit genericSplit, TaskAttemptContext context) thro
       terminateIfEmptyRow = job.getBoolean(TERMINATE_IF_EMPTY_ROW, false);
 
       try (Workbook workbook = WorkbookFactory.create(fileIn)) {
-        evaluator = workbook.getCreationHelper().createFormulaEvaluator();
+        formulaEvaluator = workbook.getCreationHelper().createFormulaEvaluator();
+        formulaEvaluator.setIgnoreMissingWorkbooks(true);
         // Check if user wants to access with name or number
         if (sheet.equals(XlsInputFormatConfig.SHEET_NUMBER)) {
           workSheet = workbook.getSheetAt(Integer.parseInt(sheetValue));
@@ -143,7 +147,30 @@ public boolean nextKeyValue() {
         }
         isRowNull = false;
         Schema.Field field = fields.get(cellIndex);
-        builder.convertAndSet(field.getName(), formatter.formatCellValue(cell, evaluator));
+        String result;
+        // Handel Formulas
+        if (cell.getCellType() == CellType.FORMULA) {
+          try {
+            // Try to get cached value of formula if it exists
+            // Skip if cell has an error as the pipeline may fail due to schema mismatch
+            if (cell.getCachedFormulaResultType() == CellType.ERROR) {
+              continue;
+            }
+             // Use cached value if it exists
+             result = formatter.formatCellValue(cell);
+          } catch (Exception e) {
+            // If cached value does not exist, then evaluate result
+            result = formatter.formatCellValue(cell, formulaEvaluator);
+          }
+        } else {
+          // If cell is not a formula, then get the cell value
+          result = formatter.formatCellValue(cell);
+          // Skip empty cells.
+          if (Strings.isNullOrEmpty(result)) {
+            continue;
+          }
+        }
+        builder.convertAndSet(field.getName(), result);
       }
       value = builder.build();
       rowIndex++;
diff --git a/format-xls/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/format/xls/input/XlsInputFormatProvider.java b/format-xls/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/format/xls/input/XlsInputFormatProvider.java
index 48d58b4b0..13eec1fc0 100644
--- a/format-xls/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/format/xls/input/XlsInputFormatProvider.java
+++ b/format-xls/src/main/java/io/cdap/plugin/format/xls/input/XlsInputFormatProvider.java
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ public Schema detectSchema(FormatContext context, InputFiles inputFiles) throws
       DataFormatter formatter = new DataFormatter();
       try (Workbook workbook = WorkbookFactory.create(inputFile.open())) {
         formulaEvaluator = workbook.getCreationHelper().createFormulaEvaluator();
+        formulaEvaluator.setIgnoreMissingWorkbooks(true);
         Sheet workSheet;
         // Check if user wants to access with name or number
         if (conf.getSheet() != null && conf.getSheet().equals(XlsInputFormatConfig.SHEET_NUMBER)) {