BENGALURU: India’s second largest IT services provider Infosys on Friday said it is watching closely the political development and Visa regulations that the new government would introduce in the US. The newly elected American President Donald Trump will assume office on January 20. Mr. Trump has already indicated that the new government will introduce certain changes in the visa regulations and immigration process.
The US is the largest market for all the Indian IT services majors like TCS, Infosys, Wipro among others. For Infosys alone, the North America market contribute around 62 per cent of its total revenue. Indian IT companies use short-term visa like the H1B to send its employees to the US.
“In terms of the new administration, the President-elect himself is an entrepreneur and a business friendly and innovation-oriented person. So I expect that the policies of the administration are going to be friendly towards business and innovation,” said Vishal Sikka, the Chief of Infosys during his interaction with the media in the morning.
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Infosys which recently conducted a survey among its clients also feels that there are no discernible patterns in the client behaviour as they are trying to figure out about the new regulations. However, the company’s chief said the things would become clearer only as the policies take effect.
“Of course, Visa related and immigration-related policies may change in the US. We are on a watchful mode and need to wait and see how things will happen there,” added Mr.Sikka.
To a query whether H1B visa regulation and fee hike will impact Infosys, Mr. Sikka said, there will some impact of the H1B depending on the nature of the policy when it is enacted.
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“It is not something that we are concerned about. We have quite a number of Visas and also have increased our local hiring. Ultimately regardless of the Visa policies, the right thing to do is to have a lot of rich local talents,” he added.
Further, Mr. Sikka said, “We have to focus on next-generation collaboration technologies which will help in next generation Visa free global delivery models.”
Mr. Sikka who is the first non-founder CEO of Infosys is an American citizen and has already emphasised on the need for a Visa free business model.
When asked about the management changes, Mr. Sikka said, “There will be more changes in the management structure but would be done on a need basis.”
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