US cos ask Indian vendors to deliver projects locally

BANGALORE: Top outsourcing customers such as Bank of America and several local governments in the US are asking vendors such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro to deliver more projects locally. They are also rescinding job offers to foreign workers in an attempt to address anti-offshoring sentiments and cope with legislative requirements of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP).

Bank of America and other financial services organisations, who have received funds under TARP, need to ensure that they try and employ a local American worker before hiring a foreign worker from companies such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro. During the past few months, at least five new outsourcing contracts had new clauses, which mandated that certain work be delivered onshore.

“Bank of America’s Merill Lynch integration projects are being delivered locally because of TARP requirements — on any other day, Infosys could have done a majority of these projects from India and elsewhere,” said a US-based person familiar with the bank’s outsourcing initiatives.

When contacted by ET last week, a spokeswoman at Bank of America confirmed that her company had cancelled around 50 H-1B job offers in order to comply with TARP. A person familiar with these job offers told ET on conditions of anonymity that several graduates from the University of Michigan are among many potential H-1B workers left stranded in the US.

“Recent changes in US legislation made it necessary for Bank of America to rescind job offers it had made to students requiring H-1B sponsorship,” said Kelly E Sapp, a spokeswoman.