Open doors for Indian techies: Ravi Shankar to EU lawmakers
NEW DELHI: At a time when the Indian IT industry is jostling with the introduction of Lofgren Bill in the US that might put an end to H1B visas, Union electronics and information technology minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday urged the visiting EU parliamentarians to open bigger doors for the Indian IT professionals.
“The IT ministry is looking to work with European nations and eyeing opportunities in these nations . At the same time, the government is working to get recognition of professional degrees from India in those countries,” Ravi Shankar Prasad told HT.
Indian IT sector contributes 9.3% to the country’s GDP and employs 3.7 million people every year.
The US has introduced the Lofgren Bill, which proposes the to $130,000. The current H1-B minimum wage of $60,000 was fixed in 1989. The uncertainty after the introduction of the bill has led to drop in value, and fall in employment.
During his meeting with the US lawmakers on Tuesday, the minister had told them to keep Indian IT industry’s contribution in mind while deciding on the immigration policy.
A delegation from industry body Nasscom is also scheduled on Friday.
Prasad said that the EU Parliamentarians were impressed with the digital initiatives of the country.
“The EU parliamentarians were impressed with the digital delivery of services in the country including Aadhaar, ehospitals, and Digigaon,” Prasad said, adding the delegation was also looking forward to work with India in the field of cyber security.
He also said that the delegation was also interested to know about the negative impacts of digitisation such as cyberbullying.
Claiming that the EU delegation was impressed with electronics manufacturing, Prasad said that EU was one the biggest contributors of FDI in the country and the government was looking to have a multi-lateral approach with the Union.
The delegation was led by Vicky Ford, a EU parliamenta-