New US immigration policy will hurt Indian IT: Anand Sharma

Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma Monday said elements in the new US legislation on immigration would undermine the competitiveness of Indian IT businesses.

During a meeting with US Chamber of Commerce chairman Steve Van Andel here, Sharma raised India's concern over the US policy and said some measures related to skilled non-immigrant visas in the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Bill passed by the US Senate recently were discriminatory.

Andel said the US Chamber of Commerce is on the "same page" on the issue and there is a need to be more vocal about the ill-effects of the proposed legislation, said a commerce ministry statement after the meeting.

"Our IT companies have contributed enormously to the US economy through job creation, local hiring, and enhancing the competitiveness of their clients, who included some of the US's largest businesses," Sharma said.

He pointed out that the Indian companies supported more than 280,000 jobs in the US and have contributed more than $15 billion to the US Treasury in the last five years.

Indian firms have made investments of more than $5 billion in the US in the last five years, by way of acquisitions, the minister added.