IT firms cool to H1B visa cut

By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 19:30 IST
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BANGALORE: Bullish on increased outsourcing by American IT firms from India, domestic software firms view as "positive" or of "little impact" last week's decision by the US to reduce H1B visa issued to workers in technology industry to 65,000 from 1.95 lakh. "It doesn't make a difference for firms whose business model has people largely working offshore," said vMoksha Technologies Pvt Ltd chairman PawanPawan Kumar. The cap for H1B visas, which was at 65,000 per year till 1999, went up to 1.15 lakh in 2000 during the technology boom period and subsequently to 1.95 lakh for a period of three years. But with cut in tech spending, only about 80,000 of the 1.95 lakh visas were used last year by technology workers. With pressure to cut IT costs and improve efficiency, global firms have increased their focus on outsourcing their software development and maintenance to low cost countries, with India emerging as the "hotspot" with proven expertise in providing quality work at competitive prices. Asserting that H1B visas are largely used by firms onsite and with the trend now focused on outsourcing, Kumar said, "It is a good and positive sign, which will make firms drive business where the technology workers are". "All the hiring is offshore driven and there are very few people who are being hired for onsite work. In fact lot of techies are coming back to India. This move does not have any impact," said HR consultancy firm TVA Infotech head Gautam Sinha.