Jaitley said India’s concerns on immigration and H-1B programs have been conveyed; and that the global investor are betting high on India.
The Finance Minister of India, Arun Jaitley, is on an official trip in the US. On the sidelines, Jaitley spoke on his discussions with his US counterparts regarding Indian tech industries’ fear of getting an unfavorable deal on immigration and H-1B programs at the hands of the Trump administration.
Talking with an Indian television news channel ET Now from New York on Sunday, Jaitley said that the current immigration and H-1B visa concerns are not India’s domestic matters. He said that while dealing with such issues that come in the realm of international affairs, one has to engage the concerned country to get the best possible deal, in this situation, for India. He said that Indian professionals are highly skilled workers and they should not be mistaken for unskilled, illegal immigrants.
“As far as Indian professionals are concerned, these are highly skilled IT professionals. Indian professionals don’t fall in the category of illegal immigrants,” Jaitley said. “They don’t fall in the category of people who just shift for taxation reasons. These are highly skilled professionals. And they have contributed in a big way to the companies and the economies of the countries where they work.”
Jaitley said that it is in the interest of the host economies that they use the skills of this work force. He said that protectionism is not necessarily good for a country’s economy. He cited India’s experience on how the country grew by opening its economy to the world.
When asked on deglobalization, Jaitley said that he does not think that deglobalization is coming in a big way, and that the issue is overstated. He acknowledged that there are tendencies in some economies to disintegrate the global economy, but they are not sustainable. “Effectively, what does it mean? It effectively means that you compel your own companies, your own citizens to buy good which are costlier; to hire services which are costlier; and you end up making them globally non-competitive,” the minister said.
The 64-year-old minister said that deglobalization does not help the entrepreneurs of the any country. Underscoring the capabilities of consumers, he said that they they take the final call. “And consumers like to buy goods which are cheaper, which are of good quality; and they like to hire services which are most competitive in rates,” the minister elaborated.
Jaitley said that he has raised India’s concerns on visa-related issues with the US officials. He said the US is in the process of formulating the policy and “giving them [US officials] the input is the right thing that we have done.”
Global Investors for India.
The finance minister said that the global investors are betting big on India. He said that this is the first time in India’s history that for three consecutive years it is the fastest growing economy in the world. “And therefore, obviously, the investors will put their money where they think there is the best prospect of return.” He touted India’s infrastructural development.
Demonetization.
Jaitley said that demonetization would help integrate India’s informal economy with the formal. “It’s a move towards elimination of the shadow economy. It’s a move towards the greater transparency, as far as businesses are concerned,” he said. “The fact that India’s government had the courage to take such a decision and implement such a decision successfully, I think has just sent the right message globally and internationally.”