Nirmala meets officials, industry on US visa clampdowns

Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today held detailed discussions with top government officials and industry representatives on the proposed tightening of the US visa regime and its impact on the domestic IT sector.
Secretaries from the ministries of external affairs, finance, telecommunication, electronics and IT, commerce as well as DIPP, besides representatives of industry chambers and Nasscom, were present.
"We had an interaction with the minister and exchanged views on rising trend of protectionism and anti-globalisation and the perspective of the industry...," Nasscom President R Chandrasekhar told PTI.
Sitharaman had earlier stated that India is closely monitoring the developments and is constantly in touch with the councillor office in the US.

Nasscom has said it will take a delegation of senior executives to Washington DC later this month to reach out to the new US administration including Senators on concerns around clampdown on visas and flow of skilled manpower.
The delegation will highlight and share information with the new US administration on direct jobs being created by Indian IT companies in the US, and contribution of Indian IT firms in making the US economy competitive.

The proposed overhaul of popular H-1B visa regime by US President Donald Trump has raised concerns among Indian IT firms, as any changes in the visa regime may result in higher operational costs and shortage of skilled workers for the USD 110 billion Indian outsourcing industry.

Indian IT sector, which contributes 9.3 per cent to the country's GDP, is one of the largest private sector employers at 3.7 million people.
The US accounts for nearly 62 per cent of the exports, while EU is the second largest market for the Indian IT services exporters contributing approximately 28 per cent.
Recently, a US legislation (Lofgren Bill) has been introduced that proposes doubling of the minimum wages of H-1B visa holders to USD 130,000. The current H-1B minimum wage of USD 60,000 was fixed in 1989 and has since remained unchanged.
Such protectionist stance by the US could also spell more trouble for IT firms that are already facing strong headwinds from currency fluctuation and cautious client spending.

The Ministry of External Affairs has said India's interest and concerns on the issue have been conveyed both to the US administration and the US Congress at senior levels.