The biggest of these is Cognizant, while others like Infosys, TCS, Wipro, HCL, Tech Mahindra, Mphasis, are all among the top 10 tech companies with certified H1B visa applications. The bulk of their H1B employees come from India, and an overwhelming majority are brought in for IT roles.
If they had to hire a local techie, they would have to pay about $175,000-200,000 per year. The H1B jobs offered by the India-based IT companies pay about half that much. Most of the jobs on offer fall between the $80,000-120,000 range.
That is not a lot in the USA. In purchasing power parity terms, it is about ₹1.5-2 lakh per month, not much more than what a mid-rung IT employee would earn in India. But in official exchange rate terms it is another matter. If an Indian employee, on an H1B visa works for the full six years allowed under the visa conditions, and manages to save 25 percent of their income, they will return home with a neat ₹1.0-1.5 crore in savings.
So, getting a temporary job in the…
