Thaindian News

Bangalore, Sep 8 (IANS) Indian IT industry Wednesday termed the Ohio state’s bill to ban outsourcing of its IT projects discriminative and counter-productive to the US government thrust on reducing public deficit.
“Ohio’s ban on outsourcing can only be viewed as counter-productive to the US government thrust on reducing public deficit and possibly lead to an increased tax burden on its citizens,” the industry’s representative body Nasscom said in a statement.

Noting that the move came at a time when the November elections to the US Congress and Ohio governorship were drawing closer, Nasscom president Som Mittal said that more such electoral rhetoric could be expected in the next few months.

“We are taking up the issue with the US officials concerned later this month. We will also seek the support of the union minister for Industry and Commerce Anand Sharma, who will be in the US at the same time,” Mittal said.

Endorsing Nasscom’s stand against the controversial move, Indian IT bellwether Infosys Technologies expressed concern at the banning of offshoring of IT services by the Ohio government.

“We are concerned with the news from the US over banning offshore outsourcing by the Ohio government departments,” Infosys chief executive Kris Gopalakrishnan said in a statement here.

The company, however, hoped that its initiative in the public services sector would not be affected as it is focused on creating a domestic delivery centre in the US.

“Though the public sector in the US represents a small fraction in the overall demand for off-shored services, it is focus areas in the future for the Indian IT industry, as governments world over are seeing the benefits of employing IT in public services,” Mittal asserted.

Nasscom is also studying the legality of such a bill being passed by the Ohio state government though international trade is a federal subject.

“It is imperative that the focus on free trade remains strong, but instances like Republican senator Schumer’s Borders Security Bill and the Ohio state ban on outsourcing only reinforce our stand on discrimination,” Mittal pointed out.

Since India was opening up not only in IT, but also in other areas for global firms, Nasscom has decided to work with key stakeholders to minimise the impact of such discrimination by highlighting the benefits of IT with international governments.