India conveys displeasure over Ohio outsourcing ban to US

Lalit K Jha
Washington, Sep 22 (PTI) Describing the state of Ohio's
ban on offshore outsourcing by government departments as
"ill-advised", India has "firmly" conveyed to the US its
displeasure over the move and other protectionist measures,
like the hike in visa fees for professionals.
"We have put it firmly in our discussions. I feel that
the US has seriously registered India's viewpoint as well as
concerns of the Indian IT industry. We do hope there will be
timely and appropriate responses," Indian Commerce and
Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters here on Tuesday
after his meeting with top US officials, including Trade
Representative Ron Kirk.
Sharma was here to attend the Trade Policy Forum (TPF)
meet, which is the principle trade dialogue platform between
the US and India.
Citing the example of the recent Airtel-IBM deal, Sharma
turned the table on the US, stating, "Airtel, an Indian
company, has placed orders of USD 3.5 billion on IBM. Isn't
that outsourcing? Where would those jobs be created? Where
(would) those jobs would be supported?"
The largest orders for Boeing aircraft have also been
placed by India. "How many jobs would have been sustained and
and how many jobs would be created?", he asked.
Referring to the ban on government offshore outsourcing,
he said, "We hope that there is no other state which would
follow the ill-advised and less informed path chosen by the
Ohio state government."
He said at a time when the global economy is reeling from
the aftershocks of the economic crisis and is coming out of a
recession, any inward-looking step of protectionism would slow
down the pace of recovery.
"It is better to avoid it, particularly since the US is
the world leader, is the largest economy and therefore, there
are expectations (from it) in that context," he said.
Under the Border Security law, the US had in August hiked
the fees for H-1B and L1 visas by at least USD 2,000 for the
next five years. Indian professionals, particularly in the IT
sector, use these visas for short-term contracts in the US,
which account for about 60 per cent of Indian software exports
of USD 50 billion.
The two sides also Discussed the issue of a Totalisation
Agreement, under which the Indians on short-term jobs would
not have to pay the social security tax in the US. Since they
do not stay there for long, they are not able to use the
benefit of the social security in return for the taxes.
"There is a need to complete the totalisation agreement.
Almost USD 2 billion per annum social security payment is made
by the Indian IT professionals," he said. MORE PTI LKJ
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