Infosys to hire 10,000 US workers, open tech hubs

AMID H-1B VISA CHANGES

AT A time when Indian software companies have come under pressure, with several US government agencies working to tighten the H-1B visa programme, Bengaluru-based Infosys said on Tuesday it plans to hire 10,000 American workers in the US over the next two years, and open four technology centres there. The first such centre is expected to come up in August in Indiana, which is the home state of the US Vice-president Mike Pence. In a statement, Infosys said that the Indiana technology hub is expected to create 2,000 jobs by 2021.

Nearly 62 per cent of its revenues during the year ended March 31, 2017 came from clients in North America, followed by Europe at 22.5 per cent, Rest of the World at 12.4 per cent, and India at 3.2 per cent.

“Infosys is committed to hiring 10,000 American technology workers over the next two years to help invent and deliver the digital futures for our clients in the United States,” said Infosys chief executive officer Vishal Sikka, who moved his office from Bengaluru to Palo Alto in the US shortly after taking over the post in 2014.

The IT services firm said it would hire experienced technology professionals and recent graduates from major universities, and local and community colleges, to create the talent pools for the future. It would also have training programmes in key competencies such as user experience, cloud, artificial intelligence, big data and digital offerings, as well as core technology and computer science skills.

The company has a total workforce of over 2,00,000, and it has hired 2,000 workers in the US as a part of its previous effort that started in 2014. Infosys’ cofounder NR Narayana Murthy has repeatedly called for Indian companies to reduce their heavy dependence on the H-1B visa programme. He had also said that Indian IT firms should focus on local hiring in the US, and that they needed to “stop using H-1B visas and sending a large number of Indians to those countries to deliver services”.

The US administration, under President Donald Trump, has initiated a number of steps to review the visa programme. Last month, Trump signed an executive order, directing federal agencies to implement a “Buy American, Hire American” strategy. He called on the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Labor, and the Secretary of Homeland Security to “propose new rules and issue new guidance, to supersede or revise previous rules and guidance if appropriate, to protect the interests of United States workers in the administration of our immigration system, including through the prevention of fraud or abuse;” and to “suggest reforms to help ensure that H-1B visas are awarded to the mostskilled or highest-paid petition beneficiaries”.

Indian software industry body Nasscom, responding to Trump’s missive, said: “In general, we believe that the campaign to discredit our sector is driven by persistent myths, such as the ideas that H-1B visa holders are “cheap labor” and “displace American workers” who train their replacements,” none of which is accurate. The fundamental issue is the shortage of highly-skilled domestic talent in the United States, in IT, healthcare, education, and other fields.”

The US Citizens and Immigration Services, which is the agency looking after immigration into the US, had also issued a memorandum last month suggesting that companies applying for visas under the H-1B programme must provide “evidence to establish that the particular position is one in a specialty occupation”.