After opening the day in green, share markets in India have continued the momentum and are presently trading above the dotted line. All sectoral indices are trading in green stocks in the pharma sector and stocks in the metal sectorleading the gains.

The BSE Sensex is up by 266 points (up 0.8%) and the NSE Nifty is trading up by 92 points (up 0.9%). Meanwhile, the BSE Mid Cap index is trading up by 1.1%, while the BSE Small Cap index is trading up by 1.2%. The rupee is trading at 64.85 to the US$.

In news from the IT sector. In a move that could potentially hurt India’s IT industry, the Trump administration has announced a new policy that makes very tough the procedure of issuing H-1B visas to those to be employed at one or more third-party worksites.

Under the new policy, the company would have to go an extra length to prove that its H-1B employee at a third-party worksite has specific and non-qualifying speculative assignments in speciality occupation.

Indian IT companies, which are among the major beneficiaries of H-1B visas, have a significant number of its employees deployed at third-party worksites.

The new move announced empowers the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to issue H-1B visas to an employee only for the period for which they have worked at a third-party worksite.

So, going forward, H-1B visas could be issued for a shorter period than the current practice of three years.

Effective immediately, the new guidance comes weeks ahead of the beginning of the H-1B visas filing season, which is expected to be April 2, for the fiscal year 2019 beginning October 1, 2018.

Companies seeking H-1B visas for their employees working at a third-party site, would now have an intensive paperwork to file before submitting their applications. This is set to add to the compliance and operational costs of India’s IT companies catering to the US market.

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