Indian IT companies act as immigration agents, says NR Narayana Murthy

HYDERABAD: US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's case against outsourcing may have got a big endorsement from NR Narayana Murthy.

The Infosys founder, according to a report, told delegates at Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad that the Indian software industry has been acting as ' immigration agents' for its employees, adding that it was imperative for the IT companies to create local jobs as it was their responsibility to do so.

"My belief was that a corporation that has global aspiration has to be fair to its global employees. All Indian companies guarantee visas, they guarantee green cards. The whole exercise has become as if they are immigration agents. I am sorry to say that. Indian companies behave as if they are agents for their employees to cross the Atlantic," Murthy was quoted in the report.

Murthy was speaking at an event where he was conferred the ISB Honorary Distinguished Fellowship. He is the first recipient of this fellowship instituted by the ISB.

Trump has been blaming India and China among other countries for taking away jobs from Americans and has vowed to bring them back if elected.

"They are taking our jobs. China is taking our jobs. Japan is taking our jobs. India is taking our jobs. It is not going to happen anymore, folks," Trump told his supporters.

After jumping into the presidential race last June, Trump has been regularly singling out Asian countries for taking away American jobs.

Trump has been widely accused of having an "all or nothing" stance when it comes to immigrants. There are about the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

He has been advocating the scrapping of the H-1B visa programme from the beginning of his campaign as he thinks it is "very unfair" for American workers and has been taking away their jobs.

IT professionals from India and major Indian IT companies are beneficiary of H-1B, a non-immigrant visa in the US which allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations.