CP Gurnani, co-founder and vice-chairman, AlonOS
The light…
Indian IT has prepared for unpredictable immigration challenges by consciously reducing reliance on H-1B visas by approximately 60% over the past few years. While visa fees may change, the impact on our business will be minimal, as we’ve already adapted to this evolving landscape. This hurts the US more than it hurts Indian companies.
In contrast, the dependence on H-1Bs has been going up for American counterparts. Today, the IT industry’s math is no longer dictated by visa numbers but by how effectively talent is sourced and deployed across a globally distributed network. The industry successfully delivered projects seamlessly for two years without significant travel during the pandemic, proving to clients that physical presence is not always a necessity.
Indian IT adopts local hiring
Importantly, Indian IT has shifted its focus to hiring and training talent locally, building near-shore centres in strategic regions, and leveraging AI and automation for global delivery. This hybrid approach enables the industry to provide both the scale of skilled talent and the high-value capabilities of global clients’ demand.
Rather than being a constraint, this change is an opportunity for India to take on higher-value work. With mature delivery models and strong engineering and design capabilities, companies can move beyond cost efficiency to develop products, platforms, and AI-led solutions for global markets. Further, India-based GCCs are evolving into innovation hubs, driving product and platform development while leveraging local talent and technology at scale.
Key challenges remain such as scaling talent responsibly, maintaining quality and fostering an ecosystem for product innovation. But Indian IT is ready. With continued focus on skill development and technology adoption, the industry can convert these shifts into a long-term strategic advantage.
This is India’s moment to lead—to grow its technology industry, deliver higher-value products, and demonstrate how resilience and innovation can turn global policy shifts into engines for domestic and international growth. If such policies continue, they will accelerate our move towards AI, products, platforms, offshoring, GCCs and automation. In the long run, this shift will strengthen India’s position in the global technology landscape. We will evolve, and that evolution to me is more products, more platforms and more AI. If this kind of policy remains, it will benefit India in the long run.
Ganesh Natarajan, chairman, GTT Data Solutions & 5F World
…and the shadow
The response of the optimist to any trade and non-trade barrier that thwarts the easy movement of people, products and services to global destinations is to brush it away and say “At last the domestic capabilities and opportunities will receive full focus.” But at the risk of sounding like a pessimist, let me argue that there can be “many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip”. A number of challenges need to be overcome, and many steps taken to truly build opportunity from diversity.
The first challenge is of course the development of truly world class products and platforms in India. Discerning customers with full access to the best the world has to offer will not settle for a cheaper and somewhat inferior product only because it is made in India. In the early era of product development, this was the bane of our industry as homegrown products were easily swept away by a wave of global products with superior engineering, slick packaging and compelling marketing. Both India made hardware, and products succumbed to that onslaught.
Full credit must be given of course to Tally, Zoho and many products curated in India that are now holding their own. In the AI wave, there are also new platforms that are leveraging India’s skills in global applications in horizontal functions and vertical domains which can become the bedrock of future AI-enabled software used by industry. But what the nation needs is much better research and development, tools building and customer interest to grow the domestic product and platform business fivefold.
The second challenge is the availability of trained and well skilled manpower for product and platform development. The IT services industry itself has bemoaned the lack of outstanding product managers while project and program managers have been trained well by the software exports industry. Engineering and even specialist education programs must be developed both by the government and private sector to address this need.
Finally, there is the biggest challenge which is that of mindset. Youth in the country must believe that there are enough opportunities in a fast developing country to be part of products, solutions and services for industry and government and should not see domestic industry as a second-best to the alternative of building their careers and their lives in a foreign destination. Let us keep our head in the clouds but keep our feet firmly on the ground to address these challenges!
The author is co-founder and vice-chairman, AlonOS