'US shutdown not impacting Indian IT sector'

The US government shutdown has not impacted the resilient Indian IT sector as the majority of its business is with the private sector, industry lobby Nasscom said Wednesday.

"A majority of the business our industry has is with the private sector, and is not directly dependent on federal spending. Hence we do not see an immediate economic impact," the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said in a statement here.

If, however, the shutdown continues for an extended period, there will be an overall macro-economic impact that may affect the industry.

"Some services such as visa processing time that depend on federal budgets are expected to see delays," the statement noted.

The US Administration Tuesday ordered federal agencies to suspend an array of activities after the US Congress failed to meet the Sep 30 deadline for funding its government spending.

"The next steps to resolve the stalemate remain unclear. The earlier shutdowns in 1995 and 1996 (Nov 14-19, 1995 and Dec 16, 1995-Jan 6, 1996) lasted for 28 days," the statement added.

The US accounts for about 60 percent of export revenue of the Indian IT services firms, led by bellwethers such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro.