The number of H-1B visas secured by employers in India’s $250 billion IT services sector has declined over the past decade. At the same time, these companies added jobs in the United States.
Abhishek Kumar, equity research analyst at JM Financial, said, “IT services companies are hiring more people in the U.S., which is lowering H-1B visa requirements.” “We have more local Americans working in the U.S. than outsourcing companies.” On an H-1B visa. ”
The H-1B visa allows U.S. companies to temporarily employ foreign nationals in specialized roles in the United States for up to six years. India’s top software service providers seek these permissions to keep employees at customer locations to perform tasks that cannot be offshored.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data, 188,400 H-1B visas were issued last year. Most were issued to employees of technology companies. Three-quarters of them have been granted to Indian nationals, according to U.S. government data.
Together, Cognizant, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro secured about 25,261 H1-B visas in 2024, about half the number a decade ago.
Retail giant Amazon.com is the biggest beneficiary of H-1B visas, receiving 9,265 permits last year.
Infosys Ltd, India’s second-largest software services company, ranked second on the list with 8,140 H-1B visas. India’s historic company Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation received 7,919 H-1B visas, while India’s largest IT services company Tata Consultancy Services Limited occupied the top four spots with 7,568 H-1B visas. .
HCL Technologies, the country’s third-largest IT services company, ranked ninth with 2,953 H-1B visas, while Bangalore-based Wipro came in 10th with 1,634. Last year, Tech Mahindra Ltd. received 1,199 permits to send employees from India to the United States.
However, in 2014 there was a heavy reliance on nonimmigrant work visas, with four of the top five H-1B visa recipients being Indian IT services companies. Cognizant, TCS, Infosys and Wipro obtained 18,640, 10,892, 10,378 and 9,253 visas respectively 10 years ago. Accenture, the world’s largest high-tech services company, followed with 4,692 visas at the time.
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Available numbers suggest that companies have ramped up hiring in the U.S. since then. Infosys had 36,118 employees in the Americas at the end of March 2024, nearly double the 19,729 employees in 2014. As of the September quarter, the company had 317,788 employees, compared to 160,405 employees at the end of March 2014.
Cognizant’s U.S. workforce grew from 37,800 at the end of December 2014 to 40,500 at the end of December 2023. The total number of employees at the end of September 2024 was 340,100, compared to 211,500 ten years ago.
Wipro does not disclose how many employees it has in the U.S., but in a March filing in the U.S., it said, “We are increasingly focused on hiring local talent in the countries in which we operate.” said.
“The whole idea is that they want to increase the local hiring that they’ve been doing and spend $1.1 billion locally to upskill and positively impact 2.9 million students. The objective is clearly to hire locally,” said Shivendra Singh, vice president and head of global trade at Nasscom, India’s IT industry body.
Visa restrictions still negatively impact margins
However, this does not mean that further tightening of H-1B visa quotas will not impact software service providers.
“…skills gaps exist in the United States, and the industry is bringing in non-immigrant, highly skilled workers through the H-1B route, and H1B visa workers fill a critical skills gap and help the industry grow into the U.S. economy.” “It plays a key role in growing the world’s economy and leading the world economy,” Singh said.
Current concerns over H-1B visas were heightened after far-right US activists led by Laura Loomer criticized President Trump’s appointment of Indian venture capitalist Sriram Krishnan as an AI advisor. .
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Indian-origin politician Vivek Ramaswamy refute anti-H-1B rhetoric, saying the U.S. lacks highly skilled graduates and that there is a shortage of skilled engineering graduates. Attracting graduates from the United States is “essential for America to continue to win,” he said.
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So far, President Trump’s reaction has been mixed. In his New Year’s Eve speech, he said America has some of the most talented people, but the country needs smart people. He will be sworn in as President of the United States on January 20th.
At least two experts said President Trump could raise minimum salary standards for workers coming to the U.S. on H-1B visas. Currently, the U.S. Department of Labor stipulates that employees working in the U.S. on an H-1B visa receive a minimum annual salary of $60,000.
As a result, Indian IT services companies may increase employment in the US, leading to higher wage costs.
“The H-1B issue will not only impact domestic software services companies but also all tech companies that hire from India,” said an analyst at a Mumbai-based domestic brokerage firm. Client. ”
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