US Elections, Trump Regime and Talent Mobility….

It’s finally out!! Donald Trump is officially set to become the 45^th US President of the world’s oldest democracy . Well, 58th US quadrennial elections seemed worst nightmare for majority of the IT industries – esp. in India. The information technology (IT) sector is in focus with President-elect Donald Trump at the helm in the US and the fear that the US immigration policies are going to get a lot stricter. His stand on trade policies had been ‘hawkish’ to some extent which has set precedence on immigration models across the industry eventually affecting Talent Management & Mobility especially in IT Sector.

Source: Google images

Immigration has been the key issue during elections in the US. The coveted H-1B visa program is expected to become more protectionist as President-elect Trump promised during his election campaigns. This will affect Indian IT companies as they will be able to send only a lower number of professionals to the US to assist their clients in the country.

Post elections, it has been witnessed that few IT majors are looking to step up hiring in the US – especially fresh graduates from the campuses of top American educational institutions, even though despite of the significant talent gap still existing in the States. Well, the impact of US Elections on Business Immigration seems quite unclear as of now. However, Immigration is expected to be a key issue in the upcoming fiscal year in Donald Trump's administration. He has shown some support for skilled immigration, however he has also called for more investigation for foreign nationals entering the United States. It is anticipated that curbs on foreign worker admissions and there would be close monitoring & obligations on employers of foreign workers.

Though the Mr. Trump has not made any specific proposals, but has indicated that he would seek reform on the renowned H1B CAP, may renegotiate key trade agreements – many of which contains the provisions to streamline immigration between the member countries. Thus, it becomes very important for the organizations to plan talent management & mobility diligently and decisively. 

Though, India as a nation is not completely dependent upon US for economical / commercial benefits – however, immediate reforms may prove to be unexpected hiccup and disrupt business models for a while. Instability &n uncertainty is a part of a business – but we should also remember that "In every period of upheaval, there are opportunities for progress!". 

PS: Views expressed are personal

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About me: Prateek Aloni

Are MNC's superior to Indian Companies???

I don’t have any experience in working with any MNC or any Indian Company (Public Sector/Private Sector). But, in future, I may be working with any of them. When it comes to it, one question always strikes my mind, “Are MNC’s superior to Indian Companies?? Which of them is better???”

The globalization and the liberalization movement have encouraged the interest of foreign direct investments in any country. The reason behind the attractiveness of foreign country in India is just that India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and the same is the reason behind setting up their own manufacturing, industrial and distributing units in India.

Multinational firms have provided a wide opportunity for the employees in the country by providing them employments, which reduces the problem of unemployment. Moreover, it has introduced cross culture in the country. The workers are provided with good and fair salary, which leads to higher purchasing powers in the hands of public, which ultimately increases the standard of living. As the multinational companies are from developed country they afford using high technologies and machines, due to which they are able to produce goods at a good quality and can make the goods available at lowest possible price, which is easy to purchase by people of middle and lower middle class families. They not only use effective machines for production processes but also make the employees train properly under professionals and make them efficient and effective for their company, which leads to skillful employers or workers in them. It is much obvious that by making use of such highly skillful workers and advanced technologies they will produce goods of superior quality.

Till the end of 20^th century, most of the people used to think that Indian cos can’t beat MNC’s. They can’t even compete with them. But that’s not the scene today. Indian Companies like Reliance Industries, Tatasons Ltd., Hindalco (Aditya Birla Group), Wipro, Infosys, RPG enterprises, SBI, ONGC, SAIL, BPCL, HPCL, CIL, etc. had entered in top Fortune 500 companies and in the list of one of the best workplace to work with. Not only Indian Public Sector privately owned companies, but also the Government undertaken units are competing well with MNC’s.

Where, on one side, MNC’s are spreading their branches across the world, providing an opportunity to grow by employing the workforce here, introducing cross culture, making the skilled manpower, effectively contributing to the economy. Apart from these providing high standards of living, good working culture, maintenance ethics in business forms the branches that support the growth of MNC’s with a straight motive of providing high quality products. Not only these, but developing the standards of society by paying back in the form of Corporate Social Responsibility. Companies like Kellogg’s and McDonald’s innovated Indian Flavors to capture the Indian market.

On the other side, Indian companies are very young in their establishment and are going through a fast pace of growth with innovative ideas, constant up gradation and challenging the MNC’s by providing the superior quality and services. Many Indian companies and brands have shown enormous fight back capacities: Godrej, Nirma, Dabur, ITC, Videocon, and others, apart from many new companies.

When I look into all these things, again an unending debate takes pace in my mind and  I end up with a dilemma..... 

- Prateek Aloni 

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