Hyderabad tech firms unconcerned about impact by Trump win

The Information Technology companies in this tech hub feel that Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election will not affect the sector. They hope that President-elect Trump will adopt a balanced approach to high-skilled visas and contribution of India’s IT sector to the US economy. “We look forward to working with him and his administration to advance our two nations’ shared interests,” B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, former chairman of NASSCOM and founder and Executive Chairman of Cyient, said. “Contrary to some misperceptions and political rhetoric, India’s IT sector has long contributed to the US economy in more ways than one,” he added. Reddy pointed out that besides making US companies more efficient and competitive, Indian IT companies time and again helped them develop new technologies and new products, significantly benefiting those companies, their customers, American job growth and the US economy. “Thus we hope that, as the rhetoric of the presidential contest fades into the past, the Trump administration will make mutually beneficial trade with India a high priority, and will take a balanced approach to high-skilled visas and the contribution of India’s IT sector to the US economy,” he added. “Even as there was no upfront indication of the outcome, and thus a surprise, personally I don’t think this will affect the IT industry in anyway. US has always been a business friendly country, and more so the Republican Party,” said Ramesh Loganathan, Vice-President, Products, and Managing Director, Progress Software India. “Businesses in the US significantly benefit from engaging with the Indian IT industry. Added to that, in recent years the industry has been steadily working towards higher value services, IP creation and products. This also helps in ensuring continued engagement,” he said. Ajay Kolla, founder and CEO of leading job portal Wisdomjobs.com, feels the election result won’t have any significant impact on hiring in the Indian IT industry in the short term. “While there were certain promises made by Trump during the election campaign, it remains to be evaluated as to how many will be implemented,” he said. Kolla said, “In any case, three things that go in favour of the Indian IT industry is its cost effectiveness, superior domain knowledge and availability of quality talent. Considering these, it won’t be an easy decision for companies in the US to ignore the value which the Indian IT industry brings to them.” IANS