This is how Trump’s win will impact Indian job scene

Donald Trump’s miraculous victory at the 2016 US presidential elections spins a web of concerns for Indian companies and job seekers. Here is the recruitment industry’s take on the situation.

Yojana Sharma, TimesJobs Bureau

Donald Trump’s victory at the 2016 US elections has rattled the world, not just US alone.

Though he had been a strong contender since the beginning but no news maker or political pundit or even the average voter had expected such a drastic favourable vote for Trump. Voters and even allies are both in awe and shock at this election outcome.

One primary reason is that his consistent announcement on political issues have been mired in controversy, including the one concerning outsourcing of jobs and immigration. Just three days ago he lashed out at IBM saying the tech company had deliberately taken away jobs from America and shifted them to India other countries. “IBM laid off 500 workers in Minneapolis and moved their jobs to India and other countries. A Trump administration will stop the jobs from leaving America, and we will stop the jobs from leaving Minnesota,” he said in his speech in Minneapolis three days ago.

Industry experts say that ‘wait and watch’ can be the best policy for time being.

Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth Management says that the IT segment could get negatively affected for a short while. “Trump recently hawkishly said his government would stop jobs from leaving America. Trump accused IBM of laying off 500 workers in Minneapolis and shifting their jobs to India and other countries as he warned of levying a 35% tax on companies doing so if he is elected. However, we do not expect significant impact in the long term as the cost advantage of emerging nations like India should outweigh going forward,” he says.

There are more reactions from industry experts which hint at the same conclusion.
“With this win, the immigration policies that Trump stands for could spell a difficult time for the software and outsourcing industry, significantly affecting the growth of this industry and related remittances from the US to India which are considerably high. In the short term, this would be a space worth watching and how immediate policy decisions may impact India,” says Joseph Devasia, Managing Director, Antal International India.

Trump has also hinted at curbing immigration. This could well be a spoiler for Indian companies who send the desi staff to work on foreign shores on H1B visa programme and save billions. This is also a certain dampner for professionals who dream of making it big on the foreign soil.

As Sunil Goel, MD of GlobalHunt puts it, “India remains a top priority as this is one of the top buyer as well as cost effective centers for the Us companies to compete in the global markets. I believe that job markets is going to remain dynamic and the business will continue the way it is though lot of migration towards US has been reduced as India itself has been a growing market & lot of people from global markets are coming back as they get almost same in terms of parity of cost, closer salary levels which are not very low compared to US market today, so the job creation is going to continue by US companies in India as an offshore and also they keep attracting the top brains in their businesses. Now in future the time will say what steps Donald Trumph will take in terms of giving flexibility on the visa and across”.

However, one can just wait and watch how things will unfold when Trump controls the White House. For now, its fingers crosses for both Indian employers and employment seekers.