‘US protectionist policies won’t hurt Indian IT industry’

BANGALORE - India’s information technology industry has said that it does not expect any immediate impact from protectionist steps being considered in the U.S. against outsourcing information technology services.

“If you look at what’s been happening in the U.S…there has been a trend, the role of the government and regulatory controls that have come on business have been higher,” The Wall Street Journal quoted Som Mittal, National Association of Software and Services Companies chairman, as saying.

“However, right now, it (the policy making) is restricted to the public sector and it doesn’t affect them (U.S. companies who outsource their technology services offshore) very much,” he added.

The last couple of months have seen some measures in the US that have caused concern in the Indian IT industry.

These include a controversial bill that proposed to strengthen security along its border with Mexico by increasing H-1B and L1 visa fees and state of Ohio recently banning outsourcing by government departments to offshore locations.

The IT companies, which receive more than half of their revenue from the US, are also facing challenges of a double-dip recession in the US. (ANI)