New H1-B bill may turn out to be good for Indian IT Industry

Since I woke up today morning, I have been reading a lot of news about the new bill and also receiving messages from WhatsApp groups. Looks like the shares of many IT companies took a hit from the concern that this new bill may effect their revenues or profitability. However, I feel that it will help the Indian IT industry in the long term. 

As I understand, the minimum salary for the H1-B visa holders is increased to $130k but I am still not sure whether it applies to new H1-B visas being issued or applies to all the visa holders already in the country. Let's look at both the scenarios. If a company is employing many H1-B holders in the salary range of $60k-$120k, they have to increase all their salaries to $130k or replace all of them with US citizens who can work for the existing salaries. 

As both the options may not work out for obvious reasons, the companies might actually transfer the work to India, rather than employing H1-B engineers locally. As a result, the American government will loose out on all the taxes being generated and also the housing market that depends on young immigrants buying new homes in this country.

The Indian Tech companies should gear up their local infrastructure to handle more projects and work flowing into the country. In addition, almost all the top American Tech companies have their design and support centers in India. I expect them to do more hiring in India and the local salaries will in turn go up. It's certainly a good news for the booming local economies in Bengalore and Hyderabad.

However, I can understand the concern of many Indian IT professionals as this bill may effect their American Dream in the short term. 

If they are not experienced or qualified enough to command $130k salary, they will have to wait on their American dream until they gain the necessary experience. For the highly qualified and the cream that makes it to American Universities, this bill may not have much effect. For the rest, I am sure they will have more opportunities and better salaries in India itself.