President Trump’s alteration of the H-1B visa program is catalyzing a strategic shift among large US corporations, potentially benefiting India. The new policy, which significantly increases the cost of H-1B visa applications, is impacting American companies that depend on skilled foreign workers. Industry analysts anticipate that, absent any challenges to the visa restrictions, companies will move high-level functions related to AI, product development, cybersecurity, and analytics to their India-based GCCs, favoring internal solutions over outsourcing for strategic tasks.
Lalit Ahuja, the founder and CEO of ANSAR, which has aided companies like FedEx, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Target, and Lowes in establishing GCCs, emphasized the immediate need for these adjustments. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, former Managing Director of Cognizant India, suggests that this trend could lead to “excessive offshoring” in some cases. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the viability of performing key technical tasks remotely.