The Hindu Business Line : IT sector downplays queries

Bangalore May 15 Indian IT industry sought to downplay the queries raised by two US senators on the H-1B visa usage patterns of Indian IT firms as that of a trade issue.

Reacting to the queries, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said in a statement, "The Indian IT industry and Nasscom do not see this as an immigration-related issue but one related to international trade, and would urge that work permits and intra-company transfers should not be intermingled and confused with immigration."

"Work permits," Nasscom said, "are primarily a tool for facilitating trade and allow global companies to bring key staff to the US on temporary assignments, just as US staff often travel across the world for temporary assignments and this is clearly different from immigration".

Both US and Indian companies have repeatedly stressed the need to raise the H-1B visa cap, which was reduced from 195,000 to 65,000 two years ago. Nasscom feels that the cap should be large enough to allow market forces to operate freely within it, as happened when it was 195,000. "Constraining the supply when demand is high gives rise to problems for both US companies as well and Indian IT companies," Nasscom said.

While Infosys, one of the companies named by the US Senators, said it would reply with details to the US lawmakers by the specified date, Wipro said it had not received the letter and would not comment on the issue.

The H-1B programme has helped to meet critical talent shortages in the US by attracting talented professionals from around the world and enabled US corporations to be globally competitive, innovative and successful. "We are hopeful that the US will quickly raise the cap, so that this does not become a constraint for the US companies, nor does it inhibit trade in the IT sector," Nasscom said.

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