BENGALURU: Cognizant Technology Solutions spent about Rs 17 crore ($2.7 million) last year trying to influence US lawmakers primarily on the country's new immigration rules, significantly higher than its top three Indian IT rivals put together.

Wipro spent about $460,000 on lobbying in the US last year, and Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software exporter, about $80,000, filings with the US Lobbying Act Disclosure Database show. Infosys did not feature among the top lobbyists.

Indian IT firms, backed by industry body Nasscom, had to muster significant clout and pressure last year against certain immigration proposals that threatened to significantly increase their cost of doing business in the US. Eventually, these provisions were struck or watered down in the final version of the landmark immigration reform that US President Barack Obama unveiled in November.

The need for lobbying also increased because of outcry in the US against outsourcing of jobs to cheaper, third-world destinations such as India.

Teaneck, New Jersey-based Cognizant, which has most of its 2.17 lakh employees in India, has typically spent more than its Indian peers on exerting influence among US lawmakers. Cognizant spent $2.07 million on lobbying in 2013, while Infosys spent less than $5,000, although later that year Infosys was slapped with a $35-million fine by the US government in a case related to visa misuse.

So far this year, Cognizant has spent about $180,000 on lobbying in the US, compared to about $20,000 each by TCS and Wipro, according to data available on Lobbying Disclosure website.

Cognizant did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment at the time of going to press.

Lobbying is institutionalised in the US but large offshore companies such as TCS and Infosys must disclose how much they spend on such efforts.

Lobbying is institutionalised in the US where large offshore companies such as TCS and Infosys constantly strive for the support of lawmakers, but they are required to disclose how much they spend on such efforts.

Indian IT firms started setting up large campuses in their biggest customer markets such as the US and Europe through the 1990s and in the previous decade. Since then, they have also spent considerable resources trying to influence US officials on outsourcing and the need for easing regulations that govern H1-B and L1 visas, which companies such as Infosys and TCS use to send their engineers to work at client locations.