Infosys says H1B visa dependency reduced, expresses confidence in strong business model
Days after HCTech said it has reduced its reliance on H1B visas, Infosys on Thursday reported a sharp drop in its reliance on this category of visas and expressed confidence in its “robust” operating model. “Over the years, our reliance on H1B visas has decreased significantly. First and foremost, our onsite mix has decreased significantly – we used to be in the 30% range, (but) now we’re in the 24% range. Within that , our immediate coastline has grown significantly.
“Among the US population that we have, our independent H1 population is now 60 percent. Now we have built a very strong model from that point of view. So, we are very confident from where we are facing and where we used to be before,” said u -Infosys CFO Jayesh Sanghrajka.
On Monday, HCTech said about 80 percent of its US workforce consists of local hires, making its reliance on H1B visas among the “lowest in the industry”.
“…When I look back over these 4 odd years, we have been able to become independent locally. And that shows in the number of H1Bs we go through every year. It ranges between 500-1,000 a year at most. ..So it’s a little bit dependent,” said HClTech CEO Ramachandran Sundararajan.
Infosys reported an 11.46 percent increase in consolidated profit for the December quarter of FY25, to Rs 6,806 crore compared to Rs 6,106 crore in the same period last year. Income from operations for the quarter stood at Rs 41,764 crore, marking an increase of 7.58 percent from Rs 38,821 crore in Q3 FY24.
The H1B visa program allows US companies to hire foreign workers temporarily in specialized roles and is an important conduit for Indian companies within the technology sector.
However, with Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, the results of the H1B visa program may change again. During his previous administration, Trump implemented tougher rules aimed at prioritizing American workers, a trend that could continue and increase competition for Indian technology professionals seeking these visas.
Data from the US Citizenship and Immigration Services shows that Indian-origin technology companies have accounted for nearly one-fifth of all H1B visas issued in recent years. In the period of April-September 2024 alone, about 24,766 visas were granted to firms from India out of a total of 1,30,000 issued.
