Protectionist US measures not likely to end soon: Nasscom

High unemployment levels in US leading to pressure

PTI | November 24, 2010



Industry body Nasscom today said the US' protectionist measures are not likely to end soon as high unemployment levels continue to remain a concern.

"The current economic recovery (in America) would still put pressure (to continue with the protectionist measures) because areas like construction, manufacturing and retail, from where jobs actually went, are not picking up. So given the new election dynamics, we would think this rhetoric (protectionism) or concerns would not go away," Nasscom President Som Mittal told PTI.

However, Mittal added that the US would continue to remain the biggest revenue contributor to the USD 60 billion Indian IT industry. In the first half of the current fiscal US market grew more than 20 per cent for us (Indian IT firms) and it was significant.

Before the US President Barack Obama's visit to India, the US government had hiked fee for H1-B and L1 visas, a move that could have adverse impact on the domestic IT industry, which sends many highly-skilled Indians to work there.

But during the Obama visit, Indian authorities gave their prospective, which was accepted that doing business is a two way street and protectionism is not the way to go.

"The US government will try and change its stereotypes and we need to help them in projecting ourselves in the right picture where people do not correlate the work that we do with the job losses," Mittal added.

When asked about the opportunities in other emerging markets, Mittal said, "There are huge opportunities for us as we (IT industry) are getting mature and now moving into new markets like Continental Europe, African markets, Latin America. These are new opportunities we should tap but its not at the expense of the US market."

Mittal expects IT revenues to grow 13 to 15 per cent and from about five per cent last year. He expects export revenue of USD 56 billion-USD 57 billion for FY11.

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