They are two sides to a coin: The June 22 order by US President Donald Trump to suspend the H-1B and a few other non-immigrant visas could see companies sending more IT services work to centres outside the US, both India and elsewhere; at the same time, India’s biggest IT companies are likely to see minimal impact from the ban, according to experts, because they have been ramping up their local presence in the US.
“In the short term, and by that I mean the next six months, the real impact of this will be minimal,” says Peter Bendor-Samuel, founder of Everest Group that advices large corporations on technology and strategy. Agreeing with Rao, he says that while it will interrupt companies’ ability to bring in talent, most companies have been stepping up US-based recruiting to strengthen their teams in the country for some time now.
