India's talent, skill and low costs in software service have made it imperative for American companies to resort to outsourcing to India, said Union Communications and IT Minister Arun Shourie on Tuesday.

The protest over outsourcing is a minor issue, he said on the sidelines of the second Asian IT Ministers' conference in Hyderabad.

Quoting a McKinsey study, Shourie said that over the last five years, the US economy has gained about $50 billion due to outsourcing to countries like India.

• India and Outsourcing: Complete Coverage

The states in the US which have introduced anti-outsourcing bills include New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut and Washington.

According to a draft report by Unctad, India should take the lead to bring legal restrictions placed on business process outsourcing under the framework of multilateral trade negotiations.

The international body on trade and development in its preliminary findings has suggested that "India should take the initiative to see that legal restrictions placed on outsourcing (e.g. the New Jersey Bill) are brought within the coverage of GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services."