Just to persuade US lawmakers, Cognizant spent $2.7mn last year

Money can buy anything, anywhere. This proved to be true when Cognizant Technology Solutions spent about Rs 17 crore ($2.7 million) last year trying to influence lawmakers in the US, where lobbying is institutionalized, to agree to its points over the country's new immigration rules. The amount of money was considerably higher than its top three Indian IT rivals – Wipro, TCS and Infosys - put together.

According to filings with the US Lobbying Act Disclosure Database, Wipro spent about $460,000 on lobbying in the US, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's largest software exporter, about $80,000, while Infosys did not even feature among the top lobbyists.

But what was the need for lobbying? Indian IT firms were under tremendous pressure last year against certain immigration proposals that threatened to significantly increase their cost of doing business in the US. Eventually, these provisions were struck or watered down in the final version of the landmark immigration reform that US President Barack Obama unveiled in November.

According to an Economic Times report, the need for lobbying also increased because of outcry in the US against outsourcing of jobs to cheaper, third-world destinations such as India.

Further, Teaneck, New Jersey-based Cognizant, which has most of its 2.17 lakh employees in India, has typically spent more than its Indian peers on exerting influence among US lawmakers.

In 2013, Cognizant spent $2.07 million on trying to influence US lawmakers, while Infosys spent less than $5,000. But later, Infosys was slapped with a $35-million fine by the US government in a case related to visa misuse.

So far this year, Cognizant has spent about $180,000 on lobbying in the US, compared to about $20,000 each by TCS and Wipro, according to data available on Lobbying Disclosure website.

Lobbying is institutionalised in the US where large offshore companies such as TCS and Infosys constantly strive for the support of lawmakers, but they are required to disclose how much they spend on such efforts.

(Image: Indiatimes)