India’s outsourcing giants have slammed a US bill that could double the cost of a work visa in a move seen as targeting high-profile Indian software exporters.
The measure would boost annual US visa costs for India’s outsourcing industry by US$200 million to US$250 million annually, the National Association of Software and Services Companies said.
S. Gopalakrishnan, chief executive of India’s second-largest outsourcer Infosys Technologies, told reporters late on Monday he was “saddened and disheartened” by the step and said the sector would lobby strongly against it.
India, which already holds at least 50 percent of the global outsourcing market, has become the world’s back office as Western firms set up call centers, number-crunching and software development outlets to cut costs.
But the US$50 billion industry also sends skilled workers to the US to develop software and direct projects for US clients.
The visa legislation, passed unanimously by the Senate last week, still must be approved by the US House of Representatives and signed into law by US President Barack Obama.
With anti-outsourcing anger stoked by high US unemployment, critics deride Indian outsourcing firms as “body shops” because they provide Indian professionals to US companies rather than employing Americans.
“We think it [the bill] goes against the notion of free trade and is discriminatory,” Wipro, India’s third-largest outsourcer, said in a statement.
The bill would raise by more than US$2,000 per application the US fee paid by any firm with more than 50 people in which over half the workforce has H-1B and L-1 visas earmarked for skilled foreign workers, industry officials say.
Top Indian outsourcing companies are expected to be hardest hit by the higher fees, including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro and Mahindra Satyam.
The bill proposes to use proceeds from the fee hike to pay for the US government’s plans to boost border security.
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