Jan 31, 2017

Indian outsourcing firms hit hard by proposed H1-B changes

Shares in major Indian IT outsourcing firms fell sharply on Tuesday, after Democrats proposed a bill that would mandate that salaries for H1-B visa holders be doubled and growing concerns that the Trump administration may crack down on the visas.

Shares of leading outsourcers Infosys and Wipro fell more than 2% and 1% respectively during trading Tuesday, before paring back some of those losses.

Why it matters: Foreign firms like Infosys represent the heaviest users of H1-B visas, which bring in workers, largely from India, to staff their U.S. operations. All signs point to Washington taking a big bite out of this business model.

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