Infosys as working on becoming "independent of the visa issue" as much as possible and hire more locals
Software services major Infosys on Saturday said it is carefully observing American presidential elections, adding that the US is an important market for the company and any political and economic development will have a "significant" impact on its business.
"We are watching this very carefully, certainly this is a very important market for us," Infosys chairman R Seshasayee said at the company's 35th Annual General Meeting in Bengaluru.
Responding to questions by shareholders on US election scene, he said, "Any development politically and economically will have a significant impact on the business of Infosys, but we are successfully working with all governments in all countries. Our engagement has always been very constructive."
"We don't get involved in politics, but with the government of the country we certainly have very positive engagement, and to the extent it is necessary to put a view point which is valid, which is in the interest of the company..."
Earlier, terming the debate around visa-related issues as "rhetoric", Infosys had said the company was working on becoming "independent of the visa issue" as much as possible and hire more locals.
To questions by reporters whether Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's rhetoric was being a worry for Infosys, CEO Vishal Sikka said, "The US is a incredibly resilient and an incredibly strong economy, it is built on immigrants. I'm one of them. While there is rhetoric in the election season, I'm not particularly concerned about any large-scale impact."
Sikka himself is a US citizen.
Trump has been advocating scrapping of the H-1B visa programme from the beginning of his campaign as he thinks it is "very unfair" for American workers and has been taking away their jobs.
IT professionals from India and major Indian IT companies are beneficiary of H-1B, a non-immigrant visa in the US which allows US employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in speciality occupations.
The AGM was marked by absence of several of its co-founders, including N R Narayana Murthy.
Earlier in his address to shareholders, Seshasayee said Sikka and his management team have articulated a strategy to re-engineer the business of the company and have set themselves a target to achieve $20 billion revenue by 2020 with 30 per cent operating margin and $80,000 in revenue per employee.
He said, "While these are aggressive and ambitious goals, the board strongly believes that these are eminently achievable through game-changing initiatives."
In his address, Sikka who completes 21 months as CEO, spoke about various initiatives like zero distance, design thinking, renew and new strategy.
He said the industry is at a point of fundamental change, and stressed on delivering of innovations and values that clients are looking for.
"I believe it is within us because of the values and the investments that we have made and I believe that if we are able to execute on this then the journey ahead...will be an extremely rewarding one," he added.
