In the face of a sluggish world economy, Europe and the United States are likely to increase visa restrictions on foreign infotech professionls, Nasscom said on Friday.

"World economy is slow. Job growth is slow. So you are going to face protectionist measures like more visa restrictions," National Association of Software and Services Companies President Kiran Karnik said in Bangalore.

"Any restriction on the visa process, be it in the name of more care, security, etc is bad for the industry," he said.

He said that although a lot of firms were outsourcing software work, on an average 40 per cent of the work was done on-site, but any bottlenecks on the flow of people would adversely affect the IT industry.

Early this week, a legislation was introduced in the US House of Representatives to stop firms from outsourcing their L-1 visa-holders to client sites.

L-1 visa allows firms, which have subsidiaries abroad, to transfer people from foreign countries to the US as intra-company transferees for at least six months.

Karnik said that Nasscom was working with the Indian and the other governments to seek relaxation in visa rules. Talks are underway, but it is a slow process," he said.

Foundation to promote IT for common man set up

Nasscom has set-up a foundation which will work on developing technology applications for the common man.

"The kind of applications we are thinking are, for example, how can you get a system where an illiterate farmer can access information he needs through a voice query," Karnik said.

Though these type of (text to voice) technologies were prevalent in the US and Europe, he said, "We need it desperately and our R&D efforts should be highly focused on this."

The Nasscom Foundation, a non-commercial body, aims to promote projects that are good for the country and beneficial to the industry.

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 7 Sub: Kudous for Venky Kudoos for Venky for Truly Examing the truth. Posted by Abhilash Sub: how far this is useful "The kind of applications we are thinking are, for example, how can you get a system where an illiterate farmer can access information he needs ... Posted by Jagannadha Sarma Sub: Good It is high time for this Finally Nasscom understands that looking to Phoren jobs alone does not sustain IT for long. 100 crore people require so many things in their life. ... Posted by Dileep Sub: Misuse of L1 visa The real cause for such legislations on L1 visas are encouraged by illegal use of the visa provitions by certain big indian companies which result ... Posted by Venkk Suryanarayanan Sub: Info Flow! Hi! Seeing the current economy slowdown and the job cuts, i think every government will want its people to be employed. But, In this regards ... Posted by Amit Ahuja