US Congressman Jay Inslee on Wednesday downplayed India's apprehension over the introduction of a certain bill proposing to curtail outsourcing to India saying these were "more of discussions pieces than legislative pieces".
"There are several stages of a legislation -- after introduction, there are hearings, from where it goes to chambers where voting take place, then it goes to the executive for potential veto -- and I can tell you that none of these stages have come in Washington since the Bill was introduced, Inslee, a Democrat from Washington, said in New Delhi at a Confederation of Indian Industry seminar on outsourcing.
Four American states are considering legislation to ban outsourcing of state data processing contracts to developing nations even as dozens of household names, spanning insurance, banking, technology and telecom, are transferring part of their white collar administrative and customer-service work to Asia, particularly to India, to cut costs.
The states considering the measure to curb flight of jobs are New Jersey, Maryland, Connecticut and Washington, The Sunday Telegraph from London had reported on Sunday.
However, Inslee called for initiating dialogue and said there was a need to be observant towards the protectionist stand adopted by certain quarters in the US, which he described was a result of growing insecurity within the US after the September 11 terrorist strike and economic downturn.
Advising the governments to stay out of trade and refrain from creating barriers, Inslee said only the most destructive form of government would frame policies prohibiting individuals from working as a team.
"Not all of US is of the opinion that such policies would help. We cannot hope to sell Microsoft products and Boeing airplanes here unless we give access to India and Indians," Inslee said.
He was optimistic that soon the feeling of protectionism in the US would be overwhelmed by sentiments of the growing need of joining India and tapping its market of intellectual manpower.
On May 19, a bill was introduced in the US House of Representatives to prevent intra-company job transfers to the clients' site in US under L1 visa.
