Indian IT giant Infosys’s decision to hire more Americans for its operations in the country in the coming days is a sign of President Donald Trump’s successful economic agenda, a White House spokesman has said.
“We’re glad to see companies like Infosys see opportunity in the American economy again and as we continue to implement important policy changes — like the President’s bold tax reform plan — we are confident that jobs will continue to come back to the United States,” Ninio Fetalvo, a White House spokesman said, a day after Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb and Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka appeared together to announce a new centre of the company in Indianapolis that would create 2000 jobs by 2021. The company had announced that it would hire 10,000 Americans over the next two years and open four technology development centres.
Mr. Sikka has sought to delink the company’s decision from the prevailing political situation in America, explaining it as part of they company’s growth strategy. "More and more as we look at the future, we have to decrease the dependency on visas," Mr. Sikka told CNBC on Tuesday. "That is something we have been working on for the last two and a half years.”
In a background briefing last month on Mr. Trump’s ‘buy American, hire American’ policy priority, a White House official had called out Infosys and other companies for gaming the lottery process that selects 85,000 skilled workers under the H-1B visa programme.
“This announcement by Infosys yesterday adds to similar announcements from Intel, Charter Communications, and Exxon Mobil, all of whom are renewing investment in the United States in the wake of the Trump administration’s pro-growth economic agenda. It’s especially notable in light of the President’s signing of the “Buy American and Hire American” Executive Order, which set in motion the process of ending the abuse of the work visa program, ensuring that companies hire more Americans for well-playing jobs, rather than incentivising companies to ship in workers from overseas that they pay below market rate,” said Mr. Fetalvo.
Mr. Holcomb has offered Infosys tax incentives locate its new hub in Indianapolis.
