Indian tech industry does not take away US jobs

Dispelling the myth that Indian tech companies take away jobs from US professionals, a new report on Monday said the Indian tech industry contributed nearly 411,000 jobs to the US economy this year.

The Indian tech industry also helped American firms to bring better, innovative, cost-competitive solutions to improve their global market, said the report by the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM).

Titled "Contributions of India's Tech Industry to the US Economy", the report was released by India's Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman here on Monday ahead of the first Indo-US Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.

According to the report, India-based IT companies providing services to American businesses and other customers invested more than $2 billion in 2011-2013; paid $22.5 billion in taxes to the US Treasury in the last five years; and today support more than direct and indirect 411,000 jobs in the US.

A majority of these job are held by US citizens and permanent residents, said the report.

It also documented charitable activities by Indian IT services companies in the US through volunteers, scholarships and grants such as a $35 million gift from Tata Consultancy Services to Carnegie Mellon University announced last month.

Sitharaman said Indian IT organisations benefit from access to the US market, "just as American IT organisations benefit from their investments and operations in India".

"This momentum is surely going to increase manifold with new partnership opportunities emerging in the areas of Digital India and Smart Cities for American technology firms."

"The two-way flow of investments and intellectual talent is central to the growing commercial and strategic relationships between India and the US," noted NASSCOM president R. Chandrashekhar.

Direct and indirect jobs supported by India's IT sector in the US grew at an annual rate of 10 percent in 2011 to 2014, or about six times higher than the average jobs growth rate of 1.7 percent during that same period, the report said.

States leading the number of direct jobs created by India IT sector operations and investments are California, Texas, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Georgia, Ohio, Washington, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

Texas, Michigan, Illinois, California and Georgia had the fastest rate of job growth in 2011-2013.

In addition to jobs, investments and taxes paid, the report estimated that philanthropic activities by Indian IT companies touched more than 120,000 American lives in 2011-2013.

These had a major focus on educating more Americans in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills increasingly needed by the US employers.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)