H1B: Desi firms get the stick

[OhioChick]

8 Apr 2008, 1639 hrs IST,INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK

NEW DELHI: With the exception of Infosys Technologies, there was a drop of over 50 per cent in the total number of visas bagged by Indian technology firms in 2007 compared to 2006. The number of firms in the top 10 also came down to seven from nine in the previous year.

The list of top 200 companies that bagged H-1B visas for fiscal 2007 (October 2006-September 2007) compiled by the American IT magazine InformationWeek, reveals this. In what could be a worrying signal for the Indian tech industry, every Indian company received a much smaller number of visas in 2007 compared to 2006.

And this was when the slowdown murmurs had not even begun. Industry honchos feel the numbers could shrink even further if the recession woes get aggravated.

Topping the list was Infosys Technologies with 4,559 visas (down from 4,908 visas in 2006), followed by its closest rival Wipro with 2,567 visas (down from 4,002 visas). Third was Satyam Computer Services with 1,396 visas (down from 2,880 visas).
On the fourth position was Cognizant Technology Solutions which bagged 962 visas. The country's top software company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was ranked sixth in the overall list with 797 visas (down from 3,046 visas). At the seventh position was the Mumbai-based Patni Computer Systems with 477 visas (down from 1,391 visas). At the ninth position was i-Flex Solutions (now Oracle Financials) with 374 visas (down from 815 earlier).

http://infotech.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2935321.cms