Meant 'body shops', not 'chop shops': US senator

WASHINGTON: Clarifying his remarks branding Indian IT firms like Infosys as "chop shops", US senator Charles Schumer has said that he meant to call them " body shops" even as he insisted the purpose of raising fee for H-1B visa is not to target Indian companies.

Schumer, the Democrat senator from New York said: "I do want to clarify a previous remark which mischaracterized these firms where I labelled them as 'chop shops'. That statement was incorrect, and I wish to acknowledge that. In the tech industry, these firms are known as 'body shops'. That is what I should have said, and that is what they are."

"While I wholly oppose the manner in which these firms are using H-1B to accomplish objectives that Congress never intended, it would be unfortunate if anyone concluded from my remarks that these firms are engaging in illegal behaviour," the senator said in reference to his previous remarks that has agitated the Indian companies and corporate America as well.