NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: It may not be all gloom for Indian IT workers aspiring for foreign shores after the US, Australia and Singapore tightened visa rules for skilled migrants. According to some top hiring consultants, in the medium term, several new markets will attract Indian techies. Indian IT talent will have ready takers in Europe, the Middle East and Japan, they said, adding that while the nations that have adopted the protectionist measures will continue to need skilled workers, Latin America, Canada, Africa and the Nordic nations could be the IT hubs of the future.“While protectionism has kicked in, local talent is still not available in these countries to meet immediate demand. Besides these, one can expect Canada, Latin America, South Africa and few other African countries as potential future markets,” said Rituparna Chakraborty , executive vice president of TeamLease Services However, the US remains the most important market for IT talent, “even as we are seeing some talent moving towards Europe, East Africa and Kenya. We are also working on a project to skill Indians to go to Japan as enquiries are coming in from there,” said Manmeet Singh, president, Experis ITManpowerGroup India He said that while the H-1B quota has shrunk after the new US executive order, it has not gone down significantly and only 10-12% of the quota will be affected this year. Kris Lakshmikanth, managing director at Head Hunters India, said, “Indian IT talent will grow in a big way in Canada where language won’t be a problem for Indians.” He said IT professionals who are skilled will gain over others in a significant way in the US itself.The US doesn’t have enough STEM students and it will take them about 5-10 years to develop that talent, if not more. Singapore, Japan and the Middle East will come up for Indian IT talent, but in a small way, according to Lakshmikanth.Another recruiter said the need of the hour is for IT professionals to upskill in order to fit better into global roles. Those with lesser and/or generic skill and lesser experience may not be preferred, the recruiter said.Shivendra Singh, vice president and head of global trade development at Nasscom , said that traditionally, the Indian IT export market had about 60% going to the US. “But with the US, Singapore and Australia affected by visa norms, new IT hubs like Japan, Australia, China, Israel, the Nordic countries, Middle East, Africa and Mexico will come up in the next few years,” he said.This, he said, could be a great opportunity for Indians to showcase their IT skills. “With the technology landscape evolving, so will the nature of skills required to work,” Singh said.Ramesh Shankar S, executive vice president and head of HR, South Asia, for Siemens, said, “For countries like India, it is a great opportunity, as we can export people to different parts of the world.” Siemens sends about 600 people outside India, both as part of its short-term and long-term delegations. The company is sending people to markets such as Germany, the Middle East, Malaysia, China, South Africa, Korea and more, in addition to the US and Singapore.One recruiter said that for entry-level talent, India is the best geography right now to rely on. “India is witnessing a large-scale digitisation across sectors, including the public and government sectors, and it augurs well for IT companies and talent to make full use of the opportunity,” the recruiter said.Now with Australia clamping down on the visa process with an additional English test and more stringent background verification, some consultants feel that Europe will also become a popular destination. Some said this could mean returning to India may become more lucrative with the charm of living and working in the US today much reduced.“People have been reaching out but there isn’t substantial growth in numbers,” said Shiv Agrawal, managing director of ABC Consultants. He said Indians will look towards regions like the Middle East, APAC countries, the Netherlands and other Nordic regions, Germany, France, Africa and South America.Skilled individuals who are currently working on latest technologies like Blockchain, AI, Digital technologies, etc., will be easily absorbed in India because the pool availability for these skills is in short supply, said Agrawal.While these new destinations will come up, however, visa policies will dictate what will happen to demand in the future. "I do anticipate a shift from offering IT services to product development as the industry fights for sustenance and relevance," said Chakraborty.Some consultants are also seeing heightened enquiries from IT professionals in countries like the US regarding return to the home country. "Anxious Indians in the US are exploring India and potential compensation here. In the coming months, we can expect to see more IT workers sitting in India and working from here. The new trend will be work moving along with people to captive centres in India," said Moorthy Uppaluri, CEO, Randstad India.Its good news that demand for Indian IT talent has not waned, and there are new destinations for India’s techies. IT companies should also reinvent their business model to move up their value chain. They should move into areas such as high end computing and artificial intelligence. Large government IT projects would also throw up more opportunties within the country for Indian techies.