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IT dream gone sour

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DQW Bureau
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The arrest of Senthil Kumar, CEO, i-Flex and the detention of 14 other i-Flex employees in the Netherlands on the issue of visa violation is set to trigger off a state of uncertainty on the global aspirations of the Indian IT industry. Although the Indian government along with the industry is working overtime to resolve this incident, the larger issue behind the recent spate of harassment of Indian IT professionals abroad is likely to haunt the industry over some time to come.

This is the third instance in recent times when an Indian IT company has faced trouble with the authorities abroad. It all began at the tail end of last year when the Indonesian police detained Arun Jain, CEO, Polaris and a colleague. This was on the heels of the proposed New Jersey Bill seeking to ban outsourcing of the US government jobs to destinations like India.

Then came the shocking harassment of Indian IT professionals in Malaysia last month and now the detention of i-Flex officials by the Dutch authorities. Although these incidents had varied contexts and took place in disparate locations, yet the skeptical can see a pattern in this spate of harassment.

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Most industry opinion, led by NASSCOM, does not believe that this is a wave of anti-Indian sentiment. The i-Flex incident is attributed to the current political tension in the Gulf region because of which immigration has been extra vigilant. Business visas to the US for IT professionals in the wake of September 11 now take over two weeks which were earlier available within the same day.

Yet, one question that plagues the mind is 'how have these incidents occurred back to back?' 'Can we brush them aside as just incidental?' Not so, the skeptics' voice looms loud. The wave of BPO to India has raised the hackles of employees in the Western world. Recently, Britain witnessed strikes when BT announced the shifting of its operations to India. 

Americans are incensed that Indians are grabbing the highly paid professional jobs in the US, agreeing to work at salaries below market rates, working overtime and changing the rules of the game. "Unemployment is a sensitive issue and is bound to create political ripples across any country," admitted Kiran Karnik, President,

NASSCOM.

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But the rule of economics is going to prevail and just as in the eighties, manufacturing became outsourced to cheaper destinations like China, outsourcing of back-office operations would continue to move to cheaper destinations. After all corporations exist because of

bottomlines.

Stung by the spate of harassment, NASSCOM has urged the government to push for a special professional visa for Indian IT professional under the WTO. India would argue that the arrest of the i-Flex employees amounts to restricting free flow of services and therefore violates WTO provisions.

"We have presented the case for a special professional visa for Indian information technology professionals under the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services, which covers cross-border flow of services," Karnik was quoted as saying.

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NASSCOM has taken up the matter of special visas with the IT Ministry and the Commerce Ministry, which handles negotiations under

WTO.

The i-Flex employees had no issue about visas. It was a question of whether they had the right kind of visa. The Dutch authorities claimed that it was only a business visa while what was required was a working visa. Irrespective of the nitty gritty of the issue, the fact remains that yet another incident has occurred which does not bore well for the industry.

Looking at a larger picture, Germany recently announced to stop giving 'Green Card' to Indian IT professionals. From July onwards, the Indian IT professional would have to work on an ordinary visas. Such developments have stemmed from the shrinking job opportunities as economies are not growing and companies look desperately to cut costs. 

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Giving a radical solution, Ashok Soota, President, CII, said, "In the long run, the solution would be to bring back work to India. This would ensure that we strengthen links with companies abroad and lock the market." 

Meanwhile, Indian companies are playing safe. Mumbai based Infrasoft Technologies has refused to operate in Nigeria because of the same issue. Hanuman Tripathi, CEO, Infrasoft Technologies, said, "We will not operate in the countries that are not supportive."

The Government and the NASSCOM need to launch an all out diplomatic effort on a war footing to change public perception about the benefits of outsourcing and the free flow of professional services between nations.

The Iraq war notwithstanding, the time has come to buckle up and promote the credibility of the India Inc. brand that has been built so assiduously over the past decade and a half by the industry.

Rahul Gupta and Balaka Baruah Agarwal


(CNS)

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