The Indian IT industry today thanked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for taking a strong stand on outsourcing issue and conveying to the US president that India was not stealing American jobs and, in fact, outsourcing was raising productivity in the US.

"We thank the Prime Minister for corroborating our view and conveying that the Indian IT industry helped to improve the productivity of American industries," Nasscom Vice President Ameet Nivsarkar said.

The almost USD 60 billion Indian IT industry, which gets over 60 per cent of its business from the US, had seen a number of protectionist measures being taken by the US government in the last few months such as hiking the Visa fees.

US state Ohio had also banned outsourcing of government IT projects, which had irked the Indian firms.

Ganesh Natarajan, CEO of Pune-based IT firm Zensar Technologies also said that the sector was happy to see the Prime Minister taking a very strong stand.

Addressing a joint press conference with President Barack Obama who was on the last leg of his India visit, Manmohan Singh said "As far as India is concerned, India is not in the business of stealing jobs from the US. Our outsourcing industry, I believe, has helped to improve the productive capacity and the productivity of American industries."

President Barack Obama, who was on the last leg of his India visit, asserted that the US has not made outsourcing issue a "boogeyman" in dialogues with India.

Obama said after striking the deals, which will create 50,000 jobs in the US, he would be in a position to convince Americans back home not be protectionist.

"...I want to be able to say they (India) actually created 50,000 jobs and that's why we should not be resorting to protectionist measures," the US President said.

Nasscom also expressed confidence that in near future we will not see US taking any further protectionist measures.