The Congress party objected to the proposed International Employment Relocation, HIRE Bill, which is scheduled to be tabled in the US. According to party leader Jairam Ramesh, this bill will affect the Indian economy. He posted this view on X.
Ramesh said the Hire Bill has been introduced to the US Congress and referred to the Senate Committee on Finance. The bill proposes that if a person or company in the US hires foreign workers through outsourcing, they must pay a 25 per cent tax on the salaries paid to those workers.
He warned that, if accepted, this proposition will strike at the very root of India's IT services, BPO, consulting, and GCCs. He added that it would also affect countries like Ireland, Israel, and the Philippines, but the worst-hit would be India.
Currently, it is not clear whether the bill will be passed. According to Ramesh, it could get stalled or even rejected. He said the bill seemed to be a knee-jerk reaction to the shifting of blue-collar jobs to China and an effort to stem white-collar jobs from shifting to countries like India.
Ramesh further added that the bill reflects a new challenge in US-India economic relations. He said that few would have thought that a year ago such developments would strain the economic ties between the two nations.
The bill, proposed by Senator Bernie Moreno on October 6, imposes a 25% tax on wages and allowances paid to employees abroad who work for US-based services. Apart from her, ex-RBI Governor, Raghuram Rajan, also commented on this issue. He said that the Hire Act would cause considerable damage to India’s economy as it will hamper every sort of outsourcing service.
