Amid the United States going through the presidential election, major Indian-origin biggies such as TCS, Infosys and Cognizant have found a way to put themselves in a secure and favourable position in the eyes of Donald Trump’s Administration should he be re-elected.
It has been reported that local engineers in various small towns based out of US have been hired by our Indian IT services companies to help meet the requirements of their clients who are suffering technological disruption in their business. This move is supposed to boost President Trump’s confidence and faith in our Indian-origin IT firms against his anti-immigration stance.
Having emerged as a frontrunner, US President Donal Trump hopes to get reelected in the coming elections in November. Trump came to power by successfully rallying for anti-immigration and under his presidency, the US economy has successfully been growing and unemployment has fallen from the time he took over the job in 2017.
He also added that as Indian-heritage firms such as TCS, Infosys, Cognizant have increased their investments in US delivery centres in recent years. Therefore, Trump favoured taking on deals with native US IT firms by ignoring and diverting his attention from firms that are of immigrant-origins.
As Trump is being looked at as a heavyweight in the November US reelections of 2020, investors are continually growing concerned. It is being speculated that he might decide to bring more jobs into the country by cutting off those that are being outsourced especially in the IT sector if he comes back to power.
However, the strategic move to employ local engineers in the small towns of U.S. will do a lot to suggest that Indian IT companies are allied to his concerns and causes according to various analysts.
HCL Technologies will also be opening a centre in Hartford, Connecticut as reported last week.
Since 2017, when Trump took over the presidency the homegrown tech firms in the US have been enjoying a big chunk of his favouritism over our Indian-origin IT firms because of the H-1B visas or work permits for technology workers. Indian nationals continue to garner a big chunk of these work permits.
Peter Bendor-Samuel also added that he believes the administration at present seems to be concerned about low-cost wage immigration only. Therefore, Indian firms which rely on high-end wage immigration are not being given any immediate attention or thought to. So far, no other measures expect that of the restrictions on H-1B which are already in effect are being contemplated by the U.S. administration.
As of right now, for Trump’s two-day visit to India, there’s a lot on his plate. He is all set to meet major industry leaders on February 25th. The list includes heavyweights such as Reliance Industries Limited chairman Mukesh Ambani, Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, Mahindra Group head Anand Mahindra, Larsen and Toubro chairman A M Naik and Biocon MD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw.
Ajit Pai who is the Chairman of the US Federal Communications Commission is also inbound to India along with Donald Trump for this two-day trip wherein he will reportedly be discussing issues of mutual interest like 5G and bridging the digital divide with his Indian counterparts.
Trump’s visit to India will also reportedly clash with that of Satya Nadella’s, who is the current C.E.O of Microsoft. Nadella will share his thoughts at a company keynote speech in Bengaluru during his three-day visit. It had been reported that Nadella had expressed his interest to meet the Prime Minister. However, it hasn’t yet been confirmed by the P.M’s office yet.
The Future of Indian-Origin IT Firms In The United States
The Indian IT services companies reportedly pay higher wages to their local employees in the U.S. than the other native U.S. companies. This move is to aid the country’s ability to supplement its economy with enough STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) talent required in technology services.
Indian-origin IT firms have already started taking major precautions by starting to position themselves as a favourable addition to the U.S Economy in case Donal Trump wins the re-elections. The strategic move of employing local engineers from the U.S. can be used as a bargaining chip if and when any major actions to crumple these Indian-origin firms are proposed in the future.