Get Even More Visitors To Your Blog, Upgrade To A Business Listing >>

NASSCOM increases lobbying expenditure to battle Trump's H-1B visa policy

NASSCOM increases lobbying expenditure to battle Trump's H-1B visa policy
23 May 2017
  • It is no secret that the IT sector depends largely on foreign contracts for its sustenance and Trump's "Hire American" agenda has now brought the IT sector to its knees.
  • The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has now upped its expenditure on lobbying to remedy the H-1B visa policy measures that are wrecking havoc on its constituents.
  • Here's all about it.

  • Around 1 crore has been spent in Q1FY17
    Disclosure
  • According to the compulsory filing of lobbying disclosure reports, NASSCOM has spent $1,50,000 or roughly Rs. 1 crore in the first quarter of 2017 to two lobbyist groups in order to get its plea across to the US government.
  • This is a marked increase from the $1,10,000 that it had spent on lobbying in the previous quarter.

  • Who are lobbyists?
    Lobbying
  • Lobbyists are people or groups, who for a certain amount of fee, influence government agencies to take decisions or make certain policies in favor of their employers.
  • NASSCOM has employed The Lande Group for a sum of $50,000 and Wexler & Walker, a unit of Hill+Knowlton Strategies, LLC for $100,000, which is a rise from $60,000 that it earlier paid to aid its cause.

  • Trying to get a positive feedback
    NASSCOM
  • According to the disclosure, Wexler & Walker is handling issues related to immigration, while Lande Group is covering a wide array of issues such as, "high skill immigration, green cards, visa processing, US-India relations, US-India matters, tax reform, (and) border adjustment tax".
  • NASSCOM had taken a delegation earlier to Trump-administration to initiate negotiation on issues such as, work visas and flow of skilled labor.

  • Stance on previous allegations
    Blame
  • NASSCOM had earlier refuted allegations of White house aide that IT firms, such as Infosys and TCS, had got a lion's share of H-1B visas by unfair means.
  • To which the IT industry body said, "In FY 2015, only six of the top 20 H-1B recipients were Indian companies" and "India only got 8.8% of the total approved H-1B visas."

  • Almost 40% of the IT employees need re-skilling
    IT
  • According to NASSCOM, almost 40% of the four-million-workforce in the Indian IT sector needs re-skilling, if the sector wants to be in tandem with global practices and intense automation.
  • NASSCOM also remarked that "Reports of mass layoffs by IT companies in India are incorrect. In fact, the industry continues to be a net hirer with talent acquisition continuing across sectors... "



  • This post first appeared on NewsBytes: Latest News, Breaking News India, Today News, Current News, please read the originial post: here

    Share the post

    NASSCOM increases lobbying expenditure to battle Trump's H-1B visa policy

    ×

    Subscribe to Newsbytes: Latest News, Breaking News India, Today News, Current News

    Get updates delivered right to your inbox!

    Thank you for your subscription

    ×