New Delhi: India has stepped up its lobbying effort against moves in the US Congress to impose curbs on visas for skilled workers that threaten the nation's tech sector, which employs more than 3.5 million people.
Speaking to Reuters, Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said New Delhi had reached out to the administration of President Donald Trump to stress the importance of India's $150-billion IT services industry to US citizens.
The comments come days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged Washington to keep an open mind on admitting skilled Indian workers.
Indian software companies such as Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys Ltd and Wipro Ltd shot to prominence in the 1990s by helping Western firms stamp out the "Y2K" bug.
New Delhi has backed a move by NASSCOM, India's high-tech industry association, to lobby US lawmakers and companies to urge the administration not to crack down on allowing its skilled workers into the United States.
A NASSCOM delegation is now in the United States to make its case to officials on Capitol Hill and in the White House.
"We will have to engage with the new administration," Sitharaman said. "Our engagement at every level is intact and continuing."
A global pact on services trade would go a long way towards settling disputes over professional visas, Sitharaman said.
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