India-U.S. ties and the hurdle of American unilateralism
India-U.S. relations are under strain following the U.S. suspension of labor certification programs for several major Indian IT firms. This move, combined with trade disputes and differing stances on Russian oil, has created significant friction in the bilateral partnership.
Why it matters
The tension impacts the global IT services sector and highlights the challenges of maintaining strategic alliances amidst protectionist economic policies.
Have ties between India and the United States reached a breaking point? Where do they go from here? These and many other questions are being intensely debated following the U.S.’s announcement on October 8 that it had suspended the Permanent Labour Certification (PERM) programme for eight global IT companies, including some Indian-headquartered companies, accusing them of misusing immigration and labour-certification systems. The Indian companies named were Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Wipro, Cognizant and HCL.
The PERM programme allows tech companies to hire non-U.S. professionals to work in the U.S. and is a step in a employer-sponsored green-card application. According to the U.S. government, the companies had received more than 2,30,000 H-1B visa approvals and over 1,00,000 permanent labour certifications since 2009. Indian professionals account for more than 70% of approved H-1B petitions annually.
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