BENGALURU: Two US Congressmen have reintroduced a bill to curb the use of H-1B visas, on which the Indian IT sector is particularly dependent, the first salvo in the battle against outsourcing that is expected under the watch of President-elect Donald Trump. The new bill would require workers on the H-1B visa pay a minimum of $100,000, up from $60,000 currently. The bill also removes the Master's degree exemption to the cap on the number of visas available.The bill has been introduced by Republican Congressman Darrell Issa and Democratic Congressman Scott Peters."Curbing abuse of the H1-B system will protect American jobs and help ensure that visas are available for innovators who need them to maintain a competitive workforce," Peters said in a statement.The bill comes after companies such as Disney and Southern California Edison have come under fire for outsourcing their IT operations to Indian companies. Issa had previously introduced this bill in July but it had failed to pass.The US media reported that another US Congresswoman plans to introduce another bill to regulate the use of the visas, which would allocate the limited number of the work permits to companies that would pay the most, rather than on the lottery model currently used.The 'Protect and Grow American Jobs Act' has been introduced before Trump, a vocal opponent of outsourcing, has even been sworn in as the US president. Any move that Trump makes to restrict the availability of visas is a key concern for the sector."We knew it would begin in some form. This has just been introduced in the house, we have to still see what the new president does. If the bill passes we will have to adapt. The industry has already started hiring onshore so that will increase," an executive with a large IT company said. He declined to be identified. The Indian IT industry has often said that the US does not have enough IT talent, which requires them to bring in workers from India on the work permit.Analysts have said that complying with higher minimum wages might not be a significant problem, but more stringent restrictions would be a concern."Complying with higher minimum H-1B wages would not concern us as most tier-1 Indian IT firms pay their H-1B employees well above minimum thresholds specified and have substantially moved to remove the wage differentials between H-1B visa holders and US locals/green card holders in their workforce," Vinu George, an analyst with JPMorgan, said in note on the outlook for the sector in 2017.