Nasscom team to liaison with Obama administration

A high-level team from The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) will be in the US next month to liaison with the new Obama administration, top politicians, think-tanks and companies and convince them of the benefits of outsourcing besides other things.

Nasscom Chairman Ganesh Natarajan, who will lead the team that will also have President Som Mittal, said the five-day visit would focus on three things — totalisation agreement, immigration issues and benefits of outsourcing. Nasscom is lobbying for totalisation pact with the US, which already has this agreement with several countries to avoid double taxation of income with respect to social security taxes.

Indians with H1B or L1 visas contribute significantly to the US social security schemes every year, but do not get the benefits since India and the US does not have a totalisation agreement. The visit by the association, though Natarajan terms as routine and quarterly, observers said, would have a number of tasks at hand, which includes liasoning with the new Obama administration.

Also, as slowdown has hit the IT companies and software exports revenue is set to take a dip, Nasscom would have to explain to the US clients the benefits of outsourcing and globalisation. It would also have to deal with questions regarding the tainted Satyam Computers, if raised by the clients.

Though the anti-outsourcing outbursts were not so prominent recently, the new US President had in his pre-election speeches talked about curbing ‘tax incentives for those US companies who ship jobs abroad’.

At least 60 per cent of the $40 billion that Indian software and back-office services firms earned in 2008 from exports came from the US. Natarajan said Nasscom has one PR firm and a legal firm, which was appointed recently. The Nasscom president said the association would also draw to the notice of US policy makers and think-tanks that Indian companies have not grabbed most of the H1B visas as perceived. Last year less than 16 per cent of the total H1B visas were taken by the Indian IT companies.

The total number of H1B visas issued to Indian companies was 12,000, he said.