Growth of IT industry is important, says Infosys founder.
By Dileep Thekkethil
Reacting to the hike in the visa fee for H-1B visas, Infosys founder N R Narayana Murthy said on Friday that a hike of $4,500 will not adversely affect the growth of Indian IT Industry.
Murthy, who earlier today met the telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, said, “I don’t think it is an issue at all, $2,000 or $4,000 that doesn’t matter. The important thing is that you have to provide excellent value to customers.”
He was replying to a question by a journalist about the impact of the visa fee hike in the US on IT companies headquartered in India.
“These are issues that need to be discussed and I have no doubt at all that value of Indian IT services industry is so high to the US corporations that some of these issues will not come in the way of the growth of the Indian IT industry,” he added.
The US Congress had hiked the visa fee up to $4,500 in order to raise funds for the 9/11 healthcare act and biometric tracking system. The new fee will be levied from those companies that apply for H-1B and L-1 visa, which are most popular among Indian IT companies.
On December 16, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi had called up his American counterpart, president Barack Obama to discuss the concerns of the Indian IT industry and professionals on the new legislation, to hike visa fees.
The spending bill passed on Friday will impose a special fee of $4000 on certain categories of H-1B visa and another $4500 on L-1 visa. The newly imposed visa hike on work visas is expected to generate more than a billion dollars per annum, which will be used for biometric entry and exit tracking system, and for funding healthcare treatments for 9/11 first responders.
The text of the new bill agrees that the companies that have at least 50 employees out of which 50% are on a work visa, either H-1B or L-1 visa, would have to pay an extra fee of $4,000 or $4500, respectively.
Even though there is no direct mention about the Indian IT companies in the bill, the bill is written in such a way that the Indian IT firms will have to bear the full impact of the bill.
“I am a foreigner. As far as the US government is concerned, it is their right to take whatever decision they want in the best interest of the US,” Murthy said.
Murthy added that Indian IT companies if they work harder, are smarter and bring more value to the customers in the US, they will eventually recognize the value of Indian IT industry.
Murthy also praised Ravi Shankar Prasad for the initiatives taken by his ministry for the IT industry.
“…looking at things that he has done in the last 15-16 months, I personally feel he is the finest IT and communications minister that we have,” Murthy said.