HYDERABAD: Strong worded statements from US President Donald J Trump during his inaugural speech on Friday have sent ripples among the Information Technology employees in the city here. Hyderabad has a large IT workforce that frequently shuttles between here and the United States for long work periods.
Trump has said: “From this moment on, it’s going to be America First. Every decision on trade, taxes, immigration, foreign affairs will be made to benefit American workers and American families. We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs.”
Those working with the IT industry here are in a “wait and watch” mode. The recent developments are likely to cast doubts on the the fate of H1-B and L1 visa aspirants in the city, but most are undeterred and do not expect any radical policy shift in the short term.
During his campaign trial Donald Trump had been vocal about how American jobs were being lost to cheap IT labour from India. Information obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (the American version of Right to Information Act) revealed that over 86 percent of H-1B visas were visas issued by the US government are for Indians, mainly from the IT sector. The new administration is expected to take a tougher stand on further issuing of these visas.
“We will wait and watch. Industry has moved from prime and material to providing financial technology, information processing and maths which have huge demand,” said Bipin, director , Hyderabad Software Engineers Association.
India has a huge market share in the US IT sector. Most Indians get the H-1B with a salary of just $ 60,000 dollars per year, this would reduce the corporate taxes for the IT companies. The American employees are much more expensive to hire, he added.
“There could be minor tweaks in the regulations that could make the visas a little difficult to obtain,” said Revanth A, an IT professional who has been living in the USA for close to 8 years.
“The Indian IT lobby is very strong and they will not let any major changes in the regulations. At this moment its too early to say what the Trump administration will do. It’s better to wait and watch how it proceeds,” he added.
Many H1-B aspirants in the city too are of the opinion that there may not be any drastic immediate changes in the regulations. There have been criticism on Indians on the abuse of L1 (Intracompany Transferee) visas as well.