HOW MANY H1B VISA HOLDERS WORK IN TCS, INFOSYS, COGNIZANT AND OTHER IT MAJORS? WILL THE BAN AFFECT THESE COMPANIES AND EMPLOYEES?

US President Donald Trump recently suspended several categories of visa holders which include H1B and L Visas which are mostly used by employees of IT firms. The proclamation states that it will be in effect till December 31 2020 but it also adds that it might be extended if necessary. 

New York-based immigration attorney, Anand G. Sinha, Founder & Principal Attorney at Anand Sinha Law, P.C told Business Today that the idea is to focus more on finding the right talent in the US. Apart from focusing on finding the right talent, companies in the US are also worried about the cost they have to bear if they don’t make a competent workforce. 

Whereas Indian IT firms have been investing in localisation efforts. Ever since the increased rejection of H-1B visas over the past two years, Indian firms are trying to increase local hiring and onsite cost structure. A report by HDFC Securities dated March 18 highlighted that the rise in H-1B wages in last two years was at 7.8 per cent CAGR due to higher H-1B rejections and shortage of talent trained on newer technologies. The report further noted that despite IT firms aiming for higher localization and on- site delivery centres, the H1B applications have shifted to lower cost destinations like Texas, Virginia and Florida.

The Indian IT industry body National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) said in a statement that the new proclamation is misguided and is actually harmful to the US Economy. 

While some experts from Companies such as Tata Mahindra, Infosys and Kotak Securities think that the h1B visa ban will not make much of a difference and will not affect them, others think it will do more harm than good. 

Some of them believe it does not pose a big threat because the number of H1B visa holders working in many IT majors have reduced over the years. “According to Emkay Research, the initial H-1B visa approvals for TCS, Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. and HCL Technologies fell to less than 5,200 as of March 2019 from more than 23,000 in 2012-13. Over the last 5 years, approvals for continuing visas have also come down,” Trak.in cited in its report. 

Number of H1B Visa Holders in IT Companies in Financial Year 2019 (Data from Business Today): 

1- Cognizant- 29,128

2- Infosys- 21,535

3- TCS- 11,869

4- Capgemini- 8,516

5- IBM- 7,253

Almost all the IT Companies have now adopted ‘Work from Home’ model due to the coronavirus outbreak. Changing industry trends coupled with reduction in H-1B visa holders working in IT Majors over the years, definitely plays a role in reducing the impact of the order on the Indian IT industry.