Non-Indian IT firms use 50% H-1B visas allotted

Nasscom worried about use of ‘visa-dependent Indian firms’ in US

A top Nasscom official on Wednesday said that almost 50 per cent of the H-1B visas that are awarded to Indians aren’t used by the Indian IT firms but rather it’s used by nonIndian firms for US projects.

Speaking at the Nasscom Global Inhouse Centre event, Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar said, “If one looks at the US data, one can notice that around 70 per cent of H1B visa are awarded to Indians. Out of it, only 20 per cent is used by Indian IT firms, rest is used by others. There is a lot of myth that the entire H-1B visas allocated to Indians are being used by the Indian IT firms. And currently, this confusion is being used to frame policies”

Mr Chandrashekhar, though, sounded worried about the term ‘visa-dependent firms’ that has been used by the US. He said, “Indian-IT firms don’t have the legacy like the traditional US-based firms. It’ll be difficult for Indian IT firms with the 15 per cent limit.”

On stricter visa issue in other countries also, Mr Chandrashekhar said, “There is a rise in protectionist measures and anti-globalisation sentiments but skilled talents will always be in demand. The only issue is the definition of skilled talent.”

He added, “Indian IT firms might be forced to relook at their ASEAN plans after Singapore stopped issuing a work visa. Just like foreign firms are relooking at their EU operation following Brexit, Indian IT firms will need to rework their strategy.”

On their quarterly assessment prediction, the Nasscom president said that the body is likely to release it in late May or early June.

Meanwhile, former Infosys chief financial officer V. Balakrishnan said that the tightening work visa rules in overseas markets will force India's IT industry to reconfigure the business model by increasing offshoring work and hiring locally.

Mr Balakrishnan also said that the hiring in the I-T sector would dip further due to growth in automation. “But I think in the long-term, they (Indian IT firms) have to change the business model to do more offshoring because if you take any project today, around 30 per cent work is done outside India, 70 per cent in India. That ratio can be easily brought to 90:10 where you do less work onsite, more offshore,” Balakrishnan told