Indian reactions to Comprehensive Immigration Bill

The Indian IT industry is worried about the proposed Comprehensive Immigration Bill, because there are apprehensions that if this bill is passed it would mean problems for the trade relations between India and the US.
Expected reactions flooded from all big IT giants, including the IT industry’s premier body, Nasscom. The official reaction termed the bill as, ‘highly discriminatory and designed to debilitate Indian IT companies.’

If the bill is passed, companies with a substantial amount of local employees on H-1B visas would now have to stop locating their workers with such visas at the client site. In an interview to the Times of India, Mr. Mittal said that “Currently, at least 20% of Indian tech workers are based out of client locations to do testing, integration, support and critical maintenance.”
Most leading Indian IT firms have between 50% to 80% of their staff holding a H-1B or L-1 visa. There are thousands of people, for whom holding a US green card, is like a living a dream.

The proposed Comprehensive Immigration Bill can change all of this if it is passed, because it would restrict the entry of foreign IT professionals to the US, more importantly it would severely affect the competitive advantage that Indian IT companies have.
Restrictions would be placed on the iconic H-1B and L visas, which are commonly used by Indian IT workers. Krishnakumar Natarajan, chairman Nasscom, spells it out clearly when he says, “The bill seems to be targeting a set of larger Indian IT firms such as the Infosys and Wipro and consequently seeks to make things difficult for them. It is creating an uneven field with favorable options for the local US firms,”

Apart from the Indian IT dream, experts fear that this would have a serious impact on Indo-US trade relations. Indian workers who have a large role to play in helping the US economy as far as global business is concerned will be majorly hit by this move. While the US media has mentioned the positive effect the bill would have on the IT industry in the US, its effect on the Indian IT sector and its customers in the US.
The IT industry contributes to about 25% of Indian exports, the regulations may amount to violation of US commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS).

Worried IT companies, including Nasscom have been in touch with the USCIS and even the Indian government has taken up the issue.

On would only hope that the US government would take into account trade and business concerns that could have an impact on the Indo-US relations.