'100s of billions in US': Samir Arora on how IT firms should react to H-1B visa fee hike

Market veteran Samir Arora, in a post on X, called out Indian IT firms for downplaying the H-1B visa fee hike. While he admitted the actual impact on margins is negligible, likely under 5 per cent, he argued that the communication strategy leaves a lot to be desired.

In his witty post, Arora suggested Indian IT firms follow global tech giants, which boldly announce eye-popping US investments. After all, who’s counting? 

“Every company in the world is announcing they’ll invest hundreds of billions in the US over the next few years (who’s counting?),” he noted. “Indian IT companies could instead highlight how new US policies will boost local hiring, green-card opportunities, and other strategic moves—rather than just shrugging that it ‘doesn’t matter.’”

Arora did not name anybody, but his post probably referenced cases such as that of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who recently touted a $600 billion US investment at a White House dinner, only to be caught on a hot mic questioning the number’s accuracy.

At a high-profile tech dinner hosted by Donald Trump at the White House, the US President asked Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg how much the company planned to invest in the US. Zuckerberg replied, “Oh gosh, I think it’s probably… I don’t know, at least $600 billion through 2028.” Trump responded with a smile, “That’s a lot. Thank you, Mark, great to have you,” drawing laughter from the room.

Moments later, Zuckerberg leaned in and apologized, saying, “Sorry, I wasn’t ready. I wasn’t sure what number you wanted to go with,” prompting a chuckle from the President.

Following the hike in H-1B visa fee, mid and small-sized IT firm such as Coforge, Persistent Systems, Cyient and Firstsource Solutions were first to updates on the likely impact of H-1B visa fee hike on their respective businesses. Most commentary suggested they expects only a negligible impact. Big names such as Infosys and TCS did not issue any statements on the matter on stock exchanges BSE and NSE. 

In short, Arora felt the fee hike is small, but the messaging opportunity is huge.