The US-based think-tank National Indian American Public Policy Institute (NIAPPI), which works to try to improve relations between the United States and India, yesterday declared that the comprehensive immigration bill that remains under consideration by Congress could result in India losing up to $30bn per year and has urged India’s government to stand against the bill being passed.
“This bill could also negatively impact India’s GDP by 1.5%, because 5,000 American-Indian owned small IT firms could go under and cause massive unemployment in India as well as in the US,” says the chairman of the NIAPPI Business Council, Shalabh Kumar.
The comprehensive immigration reform bill in question ‒ Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, also known as the S744 Immigration Bill ‒ would not just comprehensively overhaul the immigration laws in the United States but would also include provisions that would have serious consequences for employees hired by Indian IT companies. The US secretary of state, John Kerry, visited India recently and admitted that there would need to be some amendments to the bill.
Kerry told the media that the immigration bill was a major priority for President Obama and that it is known that there will need to be amendments made if the House of Representatives is ever take the bill up. NIAPPA wants the Indian government to stand firm against the bill, calling it “the biggest hurdle in front of the people of India and Indian-Americans in the United States.”