'India is solution to many issues U.S. faces'

BANGALORE, INDIA: India and the United States have to collaborate in many ways, including cybersecurity. So, they were hoping for comprehensive changes in the immigration policies of the U.S., considering the IT skill gap in the country, said The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) president Som Mittal on the sidelines of NASSCOM Product Conclave 2012 in Bangalore on Wednesday.

He also congratulated Barack Obama for being re-elected as the President of the U.S.. "U.S. does have a huge impact on the world's economy. When U.S. does well, the rest of the world, too, does well. When growth gets back, jobs will be back. We work for the U.S. economy in many ways. We are solution to many of the problems that U.S. faces. There is a realisation (in the U.S.) that we are part of the solution," he added.

"We hope the (U.S.) Congress would play a more constructive role this time," Mittal said about the opposition and other memebers of the House of Representatives.

He also said that they were expecting a service visa, like an extended work permit, from the U.S., something similar to what the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, China, Japan and India have.

As for the anti-outsourcing rhetoric that is associated with the Obama administration, Mittal said, "Every time there is anti-outsourcing topic, we always take it as it's for our (IT) industry. Actually, it's targeted at the manufacturing sector."

Meanwhile, in an official statement, NASSCOM stated, "NASSCOM shares many of the same economic and diplomatic goals outlined by President Obama and specifically, we agree on the shortage of STEM professionals in the US and support expanding the visa program so that highly skilled workers can help companies lead the way on innovation and contribute additional jobs and economic growth in the United States."

©CIOL Bureau