Indian IT services firms in wait-and-watch mode after Joe Biden's victory

Even though most associated with Indian IT services and technology seem to be heaving a sigh of relief with the liberal Democrats led by Joe Biden returning to power in the US, they are not celebrating as yet. Traditionally, Democrats are considered liberal in their approach compared to the heavily ‘nationalistic’ Republicans, which was evident under the regime of outgoing president Donald Trump.
 

Technology industry leaders are awaiting policy changes under the new regime once Biden assumes charge as President in January. Towards the fag end of his tenure, former president Barack Obama, a Democrat, was seen bringing in changes that were considered a deterrent to the growth of the visa-dependent technology outsourcing industry.
 

However, his tenure was relatively much better for the industry on several fronts. Many decisions taken by his government, including the much-hyped US health care reforms or Obama Care, were considered path-breaking, spurring new opportunities for the tech industry.
 

After assuming charge, the first priority of the new president will be to control Covid and bring the economy back on track, said Hansa Iyengar, principal analyst at Omdia. “There is bound to be some IT work coming up because of measures around these (such as contact tracking).” She, however, said that not much is known about Biden’s policy direction other than the belief that it is not as extreme as that of Trump. “How much and how quickly he will reverse the earlier decisions on immigration and work visas remains to be seen,” said Iyengar.
 

Nasscom has welcomed Biden’s election with guarded optimism apart from highlighting the acute shortage of technology skills the industry deals with in the country.
 

“Nasscom, comprising global technology players in India and Indian technology players globally, extends its warmest congratulations to President-elect Joe Biden, and vice-president elect Kamala Harris,” the industry body said in a statement. “A key challenge the sector faces is the lack of required STEM talent in the US, clearly highlighted by the high degree of overall unemployment on one hand, and more than half a million job vacancies in computer occupation, on the other. Nasscom looks forward to working together with the new US administration, to find solutions to the STEM skills gap, and enable America to be more competitive, to grow and create more jobs,” it said.
 

C P Gurnani, chief executive officer (CEO) & managing director (MD) of Tech Mahindra, and a former chairman of Nasscom, said it would bring peace and prosperity for the entire world. “Congratulations @JoeBiden @KamalaHarris from the largest democracy to the world’s oldest democracy... Wishing a term of prosperity and peace for not just America but the world,” he tweeted.
 

President Trump’s tenure was particularly considered quite harsh for the technology industry in general and IT outsourcing in particular. This was not so much owing to policy changes but because of the uncertainty associated with it. The outgoing regime had taken several decisions with regard to immigration though executive orders that made things a bit uncertain in the short term.
 

“The more impactful aspect of a Biden victory is that the US will no longer have a president who is actively shaping public sentiment against the outsourcing industry,” said Peter Bendor-Samuel, founder & CEO at Everest Group, a management consulting and research firm.
 

Indian and offshore-focussed IT outsourcing services industry has been traditionally dependent on short-term business visas given the nature of business they are into. Persons of Indian origin constitute a huge chunk of the workforce among the immigrants in several top US technology companies as well as start-ups.
 

According to a 2019 report, more than half of the country’s top artificial intelligence (AI) talent base in the US is composed of foreign nationals, including Indians. Large American corporations including Microsoft, Google, IBM and Adobe are now helmed by people of Indian origin.
 

“As we did in 2016, we offer our congratulations to the President & vice-president-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. As we move forward as a nation, we look forward to helping build bridges to close the gaps that divide us,” said Brad Smith, in a blog post, which was shared by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in social media platforms.