Nasscom to raise outsourcing, visa issues during Obama visit

The apex trade body Nasscom today said it will raise IT industry's concerns on visa fees hike and other anti-outsourcing measures adopted by the US during President Barack Obama's visit to India later this week.

"We will raise the issues related to Indian IT industry in the backdrop of anti-outsourcing comments by the US establishment (during Obama's visit)," Nasscom Vice President Ameet Nivsarkar told PTI.

President Obama is scheduled to arrive in India on 6th November.

"We are optimistic enough that the concerns and issues raised by the Indian IT industry will be taken care of by the US President Obama during his visit to India," he said.

Earlier this year, the US government had hiked fee for H1-B and L1 visas, a move that could have adverse impact on the $50-billion domestic IT industry that sends many highly-skilled Indians to work there.

This was followed by Ohio state's ban on outsourcing of government IT projects, a step that further irked the Indian players. Both these moves coincide with a fragile recovery in the US economy coupled with high unemployment levels.

Indian IT sector earns more than half of its annual revenues from overseas markets, particularly the US.

Meanwhile, the country's third-largest software exporter Wipro today said that Obama's visit would help in boosting free trade as well as make collaborations in the technology space easier.

On expectations from the US President's visit, a Wipro official told PTI, "From an industry stand-point, I feel this will provide for easier trade and global collaboration in the technology space, and boost free trade and globalisation across products and services."

Nasscom has maintained that business policies should not be mixed up with political issues.

Striking an optimistic note, Nivsarkar said that since elections to the House of Representatives were over, he was expecting that several other (US anti-outsourcing) proposals were unlikely to be implemented.

He pointed out that Indian companies had always been supportive of free trade and open market policies.

On Indian companies planning overseas expansion, Nivsarkar said, "It is good that the Indian IT companies are going global and exploring new business arenas."