Nandan Nilekani, the billionaire co-founder of Infosys Technologies, believes that the U.S. should continue to welcome talented immigrants in order to remain globally competitive. Infosys is a major recipient of U.S. H-1B visas, allowing them to employ many Indians in U.S. jobs. However, the Trump administration is considering changes to the visa program, which could impact Indian workers the most, as they are the top source of high-skilled labor for the U.S. tech industry.
The possibility of visa restrictions has caused shares in Indian tech companies to drop, including Infosys. Despite this, Nilekani argues that Indian companies have played a significant role in helping U.S. companies become more competitive and that this partnership should continue. He points out that many Silicon Valley companies have immigrant founders, and India has made a substantial contribution to the industry, with top-level executives like the CEOs of Google and Microsoft being of Indian origin.
While Nilekani believes that any restrictions imposed under Trump’s “America First” plan could benefit India in the long run by retaining talented engineers in the country, he acknowledges that this issue has surfaced periodically in the U.S. and has accelerated development work in India. As an example, he highlights his own project of creating India’s biometric ID program, Aadhaar, which has provided a unique identification number to a vast majority of the country’s citizens for accessing various services.
Nilekani emphasizes that many talented and experienced individuals are choosing to stay in India and contribute to solving the country’s challenges. He believes in an “India first” approach, where the nation’s youth population is increasingly investing their skills and efforts in projects that benefit India’s development.
Overall, Nilekani’s perspective underscores the importance of global talent mobility and collaboration in driving innovation and progress in the tech industry. While the potential changes to the U.S. visa program may pose challenges for Indian workers, he remains optimistic about India’s ability to harness its local talent and expertise to continue advancing in various sectors.