Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Indian government's top information technology official, told reporters Tuesday that the country's concerns have been conveyed to the U.S. government \"at a very senior level.\" <\/p>\n
\"The whole [technology] movement in the world has been based upon sharing, upon commonality, upon reciprocity,\" he said. <\/p>\n
The U.S. on Friday suspended expedited processing of H-1B visas, a move that could hit India particularly hard. <\/p>\n
Indian firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys (INFY) and Wipro (WIT) use the H-1B program to send thousands of engineers to the U.S. <\/p>\n
Around 70% of the 85,000 visas issued annually go to Indian workers. <\/p>\n
Related: Indian tech graduates fear America may shut them out <\/p>\n
Trump has slammed what he sees as the abuse of visas by companies hiring foreign workers at lower salaries -- displacing Americans in the process. <\/p>\n
His administration has pledged to make changes to the H-1B and several other visa programs, including by executive order. Several lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have also introduced legislation seeking curbs on H-1Bs. <\/p>\n
India has been watching developments with trepidation. The curbs on fast track processing of H-1B visas will likely hit outsourcing firms that often move workers overseas on short notice. <\/p>\n
Related: Trump is making India's tech industry nervous. Here's why <\/p>\n
D.D. Mishra, a research director at technology consultancy Gartner, says U.S. companies often need outsourcing firms to deploy workers quickly to solve unexpected problems. <\/p>\n
\"The agility and the speed which they were expecting Indian IT services to generate will get impacted,\" he said. <\/p>\n
The U.S. immigration department said the temporary ban on expedited H-1B visas is aimed at clearing a backlog of pending applications and reducing the overall processing time. A standard H-1B application can take more than six months to be reviewed. <\/p>\n
Related: What Trump's latest H-1B move means for workers and business <\/p>\n
Indian tech leaders say there aren't enough skilled American workers to fill the gap if foreign engineers are shut out. As the new curbs were announced, a delegation from Indian industry body NASSCOM was wrapping up a week of lobbying in Washington, D.C. <\/p>\n
\"Additional restrictions on the H-1B... hurt thousands of U.S. businesses by hindering access to much needed talent,\" NASSCOM said in a statement Tuesday. <\/p>\n
NASSCOM president R. Chandrashekhar added that Indian tech firms also create jobs \"by the thousands\" for American workers. <\/p>\n
\"It is clear that our sector has more work to do in educating U.S. policymakers on the mutual benefits of strong India-U.S. trade in IT services,\" he said. <\/p>\n
CNNMoney (New Delhi) First published March 7, 2017: 8:36 AM ET <\/p>\n
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India to Trump: Technology is 'based upon sharing' - CNNMoney<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Indian government's top information technology official, told reporters Tuesday that the country's concerns have been conveyed to the U.S. government \"at a very senior level.\" \"The whole [technology] movement in the world has been based upon sharing, upon commonality, upon reciprocity,\" he said Continue reading