India upset over US law to control skilled visas.

New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma on Monday expressed concern over the discriminatory measures related to skilled non-immigrant visas in the comprehensive immigration reform bill passed by the US Senate.

The matter was raised by Mr Sharma during a meeting with Mr Steve Van Andel, the chairman of the board of directors, US Chamber of Commerce. He said that elements of the Bill will undermine the competitiveness of Indian IT businesses in the US.

“Our IT companies have contributed enormously to the US economy through job creation, local hiring, and enhan-cing the competitiveness of their clients, who included some of the US’s largest businesses,” he said.

He noted that Indian companies support more than 2,80,000 jobs in the US and have contributed more than $15 billion to the US treasury in the last five years.
Investments of more than $5 billion have been made in the last five years alone, by way of acquisitions.

Mr Andel conveyed his support for India’s concern and said that the US chamber is on the “same page” on the issue and there is need to be more vocal about the ill-effects of the proposed legislation.

He expressed US Inc’s interest in investing in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor and National Manufact-ur-ing Investment Zones.

He informed Andel that the DMIC, which passes through six states, accounts for 43 per cent of national GDP, half of industrial output and exports and employs 40 per cent of the total workforce.

Source : deccanchronicle.com