Serious action by US on H1-B visa would worry India quite a bit: CEA

Anything that is going to interfere with export growth creates anxiety (in India)

 

Any "serious actions" taken by the Trump Administration on the H-1B visa programme would be a cause of "worry" as a majority of Indian exports in the services sector go to the US, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian has said.

"If there are serious actions taken it's something that's going to kind of worry us a lot because, remember that our exports of services are about 40 to 45 per cent of the total exports," Subramanian told an audience here last week.

"Something like 50 to 60 per cent of all our exports of services goes to the United States. So it would worry us quite a bit," he said while responding to a question on the H1-B visa during his visit at the Peterson Institute, a top American economic think-tank.

Subramanian said that India would be "okay" as long as the visa reforms are manageable and it's keeping a close watch on it.

"Anything that is going to interfere with export growth creates anxiety (in India). In the context of the United States, we're all watching very carefully the H1-B visa situation," the Chief Economic Advisor said.

"On the visa side, I don't know but as long as you know we can keep this thing manageable. You know it should be okay," he said.

During his US visit, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had also taken up the the H-1B issue with the American side and highlighted the contribution Indian companies and professionals are making to the US economy.

President Donald Trump had earlier this month signed an executive order for tightening the rules of the H-1B visa programme to stop its "abuse" and ensure that the visas are given to the "most-skilled or highest paid" petitioners, a decision that would impact India's USD 150 billion IT industry.| READ MORE

Rs 48,000 cr Delhi Budget: AAP focuses on health, education, no new taxes

Kejriwal government abolished the plan and non-plan expenditure heads

#LATEST | A Rs 48,000-crore budget for the national capital was today presented by the AAP government, laying major focus on improving transport, health, water distribution and education infrastructure.

In its third Budget, the Arvind Kejriwal government abolished the plan and non-plan expenditure heads and presented it in terms of revenue and capital classification in line with the Centre's decision.

There was no proposal on levying any new tax.

In a first, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who holds the finance portfolio, also presented an "outcome budget" which he said would act like a "contract" between the government and the people.

Sisodia asserted that the economy of the state will grow "despite demonetisation".

At the same time, he said note ban has led to contraction in the city's estimated GSDP for the ongoing financial year (at constant prices) although it will still be higher than the projected growth at the national level.

At current prices, the national capital's economic growth has been pegged at 12.76 per cent.

"When we allocate money for skywalk, merely constructing it would not be counted as success. Its success would depend on how many people actually use it. That in a nutshell explains the objective of the outcome component," he said.

Eyeing the municipal polls, the government has earmarked a record Rs 7,571 crore for the civic bodies, which comes to about 15 per cent of the total allocation.

The government alloted Rs 11,300 crore for education, about 24 per cent of the total Budget, to the education sector. Last year's allocation was Rs 10,690 crore.

An outlay of Rs 5,736 crore has been made for the health sector, a priority area for AAP government.

Rs 1,156 crore has been set aside for the phase four of the Delhi Metro while Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for developing bus terminals and depots.

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