Trump's H-1B shock: Offshoring likely to get lift, IT cos may take a hit

New US visa fee piles pressure on Indian IT firms, threatening margins and accelerating shift to GCCs, automation, and local hiring

The past 48 hours have tested the nerves of India’s $282 billion information technology (IT) services industry, after Washington stunned the market with a $100,000 one-time fee on new H-1B visa applications. While a closer look at US immigration data suggests that the number of H-1B applications filed has already fallen by nearly 80 per cent over the past decade, underscoring how the visa’s importance to Indian IT has been steadily waning long before the latest shock, industry experts and analysts point out that this will still impact the sector, especially at a time when growth has been slow due