No Visa? No problem. Send the work to India.

Trump wants to make it harder for Indian technology professionals to move to the United States. But there could be an unexpected result: instead of Indian engineers going to America for work, more American technology work could come to India.

I have spent more than 30 years in the technology industry. So, when I read about the latest US restrictions on PERM, a process that helps employees move towards permanent residency in America, I was not as worried as the headlines made it seem. Here is one important number: last year, Indian IT companies accounted for fewer than 1,400 out of 117,849 PERM certifications. That is less than 2% of the total.

This means the immediate impact on Indian IT companies may be smaller than many people think. But something much bigger could be happening.

In the early days, when American companies needed technology work done, Indian IT companies sent their engineers to the US to work at the customer's office. Over time, companies realised that much of this work could be done from India itself. This led to a business model in which some employees worked at the customer's location in America, while others worked from India. This became known as the onsite-offshore model. I experienced this change firsthand. Now, we may be entering another major phase of change.

The US is making it more difficult for Indian professionals to move there. At the same time, advances in technology are allowing smaller teams in India to handle more complex and important projects. Here is the irony: by trying to reduce the number of Indian professionals moving to America, the US may actually encourage more American technology work to move to India.

I am not talking about simply moving routine coding, software maintenance or basic IT support jobs to India. The real opportunity is to take on higher-value work, such as:

• Designing the overall structure of complex technology systems.
• Building new software products and improving existing ones.
• Protecting companies from cyberattacks.
• Helping businesses use artificial intelligence effectively.
• Developing technology solutions for industries such as banking, healthcare and manufacturing.
• Creating our own products, technologies and intellectual property.

Indian teams should not simply wait for instructions from customers in New York or other American cities. They should help decide what products need to be built and how businesses can use technology to improve. For example, instead of merely maintaining a bank's technology systems, an Indian team could help redesign those systems and improve how the bank operates.

Instead of providing engineers to solve problems identified by someone else, Indian companies should take responsibility for understanding and solving those problems themselves. In simple terms, India should move from supplying people to delivering complete solutions and creating valuable products of its own.

For the past 30 years, the Indian IT industry has largely followed a simple formula: when companies won more projects, they hired more engineers. Business growth and job growth generally went hand in hand. But artificial intelligence is changing this relationship. AI tools can help employees complete certain tasks faster and with less effort.

As a result, Indian IT companies may win bigger and more complex projects without needing to increase their workforce at the same rate as before. This means the industry could create more value and earn more revenue without creating the same number of new jobs it once did. That is an important challenge for India's IT industry and its workforce.

In a way we need a new way to measure success. For the past 30 years, India's IT industry has largely competed by offering skilled professionals at a lower cost than many other countries. The next 30 years must be different. Our success should depend on the quality of our skills, our ability to solve difficult problems and the value we create.

We need to ask ourselves some important questions:

• Can we develop professionals who design entire technology systems, rather than only write code?
• Can we build our own software products and technologies in India?
• Can more important business and technology decisions be made by teams based in India?
• Can we create greater value with each employee and, as a result, pay our people significantly better?

These are far more important questions than simply asking how many work visas America will issue. We should not panic every time we hear negative news about US visas. Trump may make it harder for Indian engineers to travel to America for work. But that does not mean Indian IT companies have to lose out.

Instead, they have an opportunity to bring more advanced technology projects, greater responsibility and higher-value work to India.

The real goal should not be to send more Indian engineers to America. It should be to make American companies comfortable bringing their most important technology work to India.

#IndianIT #Technology #ArtificialIntelligence #FutureOfWork #IndiaTech #DigitalTransformation