Hyderabad: The US govt’s suspension of PERM labour-certification processing for eight major technology companies is unlikely to disrupt the Indian IT sector immediately, but industry leaders say it could strengthen India’s ability to retain and attract high-end technology talent while accelerating the country’s global capability centre (GCC) expansion. PERM is a key stage in employer-sponsored green card applications that allows US companies to seek permanent residency for foreign workers.“US organizations will need to accelerate their GCC plans. Doing so will allow them to continue with their technology and engineering roadmap while reducing or maintaining their cost structure,” said former Goldman Sachs managing director and now co-founder of GCC Foundry Sandeep Dhar.However, HYSEA president Flt Lt Bipin Chandra Pendyala felt the move would not dramatically alter business models. “Companies such as Microsoft, Cognizant, TCS or Adobe already have a pretty large presence in the US and India. If they cannot do a certain number of green cards or H-1Bs next year because of this caveat, it is not that they will move all those roles to India. Pure development roles may move to India or other locations, but customer-facing, account management, customer success positions will need to remain in the US,” Pendyala said.Sidhant Rastogi, president of consulting and GCC enablement firm Zinnov, said some Indian professionals in the US may reassess their long-term plans, but any reversal of brain drain will depend on whether India offers comparable leadership roles, compensation and cutting-edge work. “What has fundamentally changed is the opportunity that India now offers,” Rastogi said, citing growth in AI, product engineering, platform development and global leadership roles.Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital, said the restrictions could benefit India’s tech and GCC ecosystem where 2,100 GCCs employ 2.4 million professionals, positioning the country for rising AI talent demand that is projected at 1.3 million by 2027. “More American companies may consider expanding their technology and AI operations here. While this announcement alone will not drive GCC expansion, it could strengthen India’s position as a global technology and innovation hub,” she said.World Telugu Information Technology Council (WTITC) chairman Sundeep Kumar Makthala said while countries have the right to enforce immigration laws, technology depends on global talent and cross-border collaboration.
