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H1B Visas Help Build India's Reputation, Restrictions Could Be Problematic, Says Arvind Subramanian

'The issue is much bigger than getting a job, going abroad'
Anindito Mukherjee / Reuters

NEW DELHI -- Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian on Friday expressed his concern over the H1B Visa issue, saying that if we start getting restrictions on the visa then it is going to be a problem for India.

"People think of the benefit of H1B Visa as just Indians. Going and getting a job, getting foreign exchange. However, I think it is much bigger than that as when they get a job, there is circulatory advantage as they build India's reputation as a country," Subramanian said while speaking at the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII) in New Delhi.

"Our IT services took off because India has a reputation for doing good stuff, which is established in H1B visa thing," he added while talking about the concerns faced by the Indian IT industry after Trump Administration's visa ban.

However, India has expressed concern over the rising trend of developed countries like the US, Australia and New Zealand to put curbs on the movement of skilled professionals from India.

That primarily puts Indian technology companies that send thousands of computer programmers and consultants to work at client sites abroad in the cross-hairs, hurting their ability to serve customers and organisations.

Talking about the rupee appreciation, the Chief Economic Advisor said that globalisation is still alive, as "we may not get rapid increase in trade in the world, but we are not getting rapid declines either. It's not a bleak scenario."

"We have real interest in our exports growing, since we are keeping the world market open. So we need to take leadership and should be willing in keeping our markets open," he added while mentioning on how India should respond to the scenario.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.