Hyderabad: US companies can either replace Indian techies with US ones, or create new posts for Indian employees if the proposed bill which restricts H1B visa holders and makes it compulsory to double the salary of employees from $60,000 to $1,30,000 per annum, goes through. Major IT companies such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and HCL, among others, have launched recruitment drives and campus selections. They are confident they can train employees and overcome the crisis. Medium and above-medium firms are in a dilemma.
Chairman of Beeta Infotech, Y V Yadagiri, said that his company deals in mobile app development and SMS solutions among other programmes. “There is no alternative for us but to shift our teams to India. There is no clarity on the proposed Bill. It may have a bad impact on projects,” he said. Out of 1,283 IT companies in Hyderabad city, about 516 are medium and above medium scale industries in IT exports. Their managements are uncertain about the future of the companies.
Managing director of Pegasystems, Suman Reddy, said one must wait for clarity on the bill and it was too early to make predictions. “It is a wrong move. Hiring local Americans is not an alternative," he said. P Ramu, a techie working in the US, said that it would be a problem for companies to replace Indian employees with American ones. “Most of the students studying MS are non-Americans. Very few Americans have completed MS," he said.
