Infosys trying to appease Trump government by hiring Americans, says Head Hunters

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Head Hunters India, an executive search firm located in Bengaluru, has called IT giant Infosys' decision to hire 10,000 Americans an act to 'appease' the Trump administration.
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As per Founder-Chairman-MD K Lakshmikanth, local hiring in the US is a costly process, which would lead to offshore job cuts in India.

Infosys made the announcement amid US accusations that top Indian IT firms like TCS and Infosys were unfairly cornering the lion's share of H-1B visas by putting extra tickets in the lottery system.

Trump has recently signed an executive order which asks for stringent H-1B visa rules so that foreign countries can’t 'abuse' it, and send only the best of their staff to the US. This decision is all set to put a negative impact on India's $150 billion IT industry.

"The announcement of the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to deter and detect what it described as fraud and abuse of the H-1B work visas is indicative of US government's intentions to go tough and stringent in approval of H-1B visas this year," Lakshmikanth said.

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It was on May 3rd that Infosys had announced it’s decision to hire 10,000 Americans in the next two years while also opening four new centres in the US.

In the minimum salary of a skilled American techie, which is $80,000 (Rs 52 lakh) per year, Infosys can hire four software engineers in India for its offshore development work. This is why Lakshmikanth thinks that Infosys would take its time in hiring Americans.

Also read: Indian techies have nowhere to go to now

Currently, an Indian IT firm pays $60,000-65,000 per year for techies working in the US on H-1B visas and they return after three years of onsite work.

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Lakshmikanth also said if Infosys hired about 500 Americans techies, it will result in a loss of 2,000 jobs in India for offshore operations. "Automation and artificial intelligence will reduce hiring by another 30-40 per cent," he added.

On April 24, Nasscom had come out in defence of its members - TCS and Infosys - saying the two accounted for only 8.8 per cent of the approved H1B visas in 2014-15.

The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations requiring theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. Indian technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year for their US operations.

(Image source BreakingViews)

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