Indian IT a big job creator in US: Sharma

Indian information technology companies created 7,000 jobs in the US last month and 2.5 lakh jobs over the last three years, commerce minister Anand Sharma said on Tuesday, pointing out that recent protectionist measures taken by the US such as hiking professional visa fees and clamping down on outsourcing could hamper such economic activity.

Saying that several actions taken by the US with regard to offshore outsourcing and other trade issues are "not welcome at all", Sharma added, ''In times of crisis, countries tend to look inwards, but protection can be counterproductive. This is the time to encourage global trade flows.''

The minister is optimistic that the issues could be sorted out through discussions. ''We remain optimistic about the whole scenario but responses need to be calibrated,'' he told newspersons in New Delhi. "The Indian IT industry has made a notable contribution which is acknowledged globally, even in the US. It is Indian entities which are responsible for creating jobs, even now when there are big job losses."

He hoped that the scheduled India-US Trade Policy Forum (TPF) meeting on 21 September would be "constructive". Sharma and US trade representative Ron Kirk will co-chair the TPF, which is the principal trade dialogue between the US and India.

Ohio governor Ted Strickland has banned offshore outsourcing by government departments. Earlier, the US increased professional visa fees significantly to fund a $600 million programme to secure its border with Mexico.

Sharma said lessons should be learnt from a similar protectionist mistake in the form of the Smoot Hawley Act of 1930. It is widely believed that because of that protectionist move by the US, the global recession during the 1930s changed into a depression.