Nov. 4: With reports of Indian IT professionals facing harassment in the US, the minister of state for IT and telecom, Mr Sachin Pilot, said on Thursday that Indian IT companies are not part of the problem, but part of the solution.
“The Indian IT companies are not a problem, but they are a part of solution. They are adding value. They are creating jobs for the local people whether in the US or Europe,” said Mr Pilot. The minister said that India has been taking up the matter with the US.
“They (US) had advocated free trade, and should stand by it,”Mr Pilot added. The IT body Nasscom is said to have written a letter to the US ambassador in India, Mr Timothy Roemer, highlighting the concerns of Indian IT companies about the rejection of business visas for Indian IT firms.
There is an impression that the US authorities are indulging in aggressive behaviour against Indians who have valid business visas. The issue of difficulties faced by the companies have assumed significance right now due to the upcoming visit of the US president, Mr Barack Obama, later this week.
He has recently been indulging in the rhetoric against outsourcing to countries such as India saying it results in job losses. Earlier this year, the US government had hiked fee for H1-B and L1 visas, which could impact the domestic IT industry. Also, Ohio states banned outsourcing of government IT projects, a step that further irked the IT industry. However Ficci have been highlighting that Indian companies are job creators not job takers in the US.
According to Ficci the investments by the Indian companies has created and saved around 65,000 jobs in the US. Indian firms like Bharti are even outsourcing their network management to American firms like IBM.