Indian IT companies scramble to put in place new strategies.

As the US is likely to restrict the loopholes in H-1B visas issued every year, following the victory of Donald Trump as the new president of the US, Indian Information Technology companies are planning strategies to adjust themselves to the changing situation.

A Reuters report said that Indian IT companies will speed up acquisitions in the US and will recruit more students locally.

The H-1B visa program is expected to become more protectionist as President-elect Trump promised during his election campaigns. This will affect Indian IT companies as they will be able to send only a lower number of professionals to the US to assist their clients in the country. Top three Indian IT companies, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro have sent about 86,000 new H1-B workers from 2005 to 2014 alone to the US, which is their largest overseas market.

“The world over, there’s a lot of protectionisms coming in and push back on immigration. Unfortunately, people are confusing immigration with a high-skilled temporary workforce, because we are really a temporary workforce,” Pravin Rao, chief operating officer at Infosys, told Reuters.

“We have to accelerate hiring of locals if they are available, and start recruiting freshers from universities there,” said Rao.

With Trump picking Senator Jeff Sessions, a long-time critic of the visa program, for the post of Attorney General, he has sent a clear signal to all. Though some tough decisions are expected, it is obvious that the US technology market cannot go ahead without skilled professionals from India. Along with that, any decision to restrict employment visa will result in higher cost to the industry.

“Now we have to get into a model where we will recruit freshers, train them and gradually deploy them, and this will increase our costs,” said Rao.

According to experts, the margin of technology companies has already gone down. If Trump increases the minimum wage for foreign workers, IT companies would be badly hit. A well-thought out strategy to acquire American companies would help Indian IT industry withstand mounting pressure. Furthermore, companies can increase their local head count and expand market presence.

According to Jatin Dalal, Wipro’s chief financial officer, the growth strategy is to buy companies that offer something beyond what Wipro already does, or new, disruptive firms – such as Appirio, a US cloud services firm. At the same time, Tech Mahindra is looking for more US acquisitions, particularly in healthcare and financial technology firms.