Last Updated:
‘India’s finest Doctors, engineers, scientists and innovators have opportunity to contribute to India’s growth and progress towards Viksit Bharat,’ says India’s G20 Sherpa Kant.
India’s G20 Sherpa and former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant. (File Photo)
Amitabh Kant, former CEO of NITI Aayog and India’s G20 Sherpa, on Saturday said US President Donald Trump’s $100,000 H-1B fee will choke US innovation, and turbocharge India’s. He added that India’s finest Doctors, engineers, scientists and innovators have an opportunity to contribute to India’s growth and progress towards the Viksit Bharat.
“Donald Trump’s 100,000 H-1B fee will choke US innovation, and turbocharge India’s. By slamming the door on global talent, America pushes the next wave of labs, patents, innovation and startups to Bangalore and Hyderabad, Pune and Gurgaon. India’s finest Doctors, engineers, scientists, innovators have an opportunity to contribute to India’s growth & progress towards #ViksitBharat. America’s loss will be India’s gain,” Kant said in a post on X on September 20.
The comments come after Trump signed a proclamation ‘Restriction on entry of certain nonimmigrant workers’ on Friday that will restrict entry into the United States of individuals as nonimmigrants unless their H-1B petitions are accompanied or supplemented by a payment of $100,000.
The proclamation said the restriction shall expire, absent extension, 12 months after the effective date of this proclamation of September 21, 2025.
The proclamation said that the number of foreign STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) workers in the United States has more than doubled between 2000 and 2019, increasing from 1.2 million to almost 2.5 million, while overall STEM employment has only increased 44.5 per cent during that time. Among computer and math occupations, the foreign share of the workforce grew from 17.7 per cent in 2000 to 26.1 per cent in 2019. The key facilitator for this influx of foreign STEM labour has been the abuse of the H-1B visa, it said.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the second-highest beneficiary with over 5,000 approved H-1B visas in 2025, after Amazon, according to federal data. According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Amazon had 10,044 workers using H-1B visas as of June, 2025. Coming in at the second spot was TCS with 5,505 H-1B visas approved.
Other top beneficiaries include Microsoft (5189), Meta (5123), Apple (4202), Google (4181), Deloitte (2353), Infosys (2004), Wipro (1523) and Tech Mahindra Americas (951).
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h…Read More
Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h… Read More
September 20, 2025, 10:24 IST
Read More
