$100,000 H-1B fee forces TCS, Infosys and others to rewire global operations

By: Shantanu Bhattacharji

India must boost innovation, venture markets, and talent retention or risk losing top engineers to countries faster to exploit Washington’s H-1B fee hike.

The Trump administration’s sudden hike of H-1B visa fees to $100,000 has sent shockwaves through India’s technology sector, upended plans for thousands of skilled workers, and unsettled the wider Indian diaspora in the US. For decades, the H-1B programme has served as the primary pipeline for American firms to fill critical shortages in science, technology, engineering and healthcare. Indians dominate the system, holding more than 70 per cent of the 730,000 visas currently active. 

The fee surge threatens to upend a $250 billion Indian IT services industry whose business model has long relied on dispatching engineers to US corporations. For American firms, the hike raises costs sharply for operations that depend on Indian talent—from cloud management to coding financial platforms. 

Shockwaves on Both Sides 

Replacing these workers will not be straightforward. The sudden escalation forces US companies to rethink recruitment, even as shortages grow in specialised fields such as cybersecurity and machine learning. For Indian outsourcers—Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCL Technologies, Wipro—the decision threatens to erode competitiveness, particularly in contracts where on-site deployment in the US has been a differentiator. 

Experts say the industry is staring at a structural break as margins are already under pressure. A $100,000 visa fee makes the traditional staffing model unsustainable. 

The stakes are high. According to Nasscom, India’s IT exports to the US account for roughly 60 per cent of sector revenues. Disruption in workforce mobility could ripple beyond corporate earnings, affecting foreign exchange inflows and macroeconomic stability. 

India’s Silver Lining? 

Some in New Delhi see opportunity in the upheaval. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a televised address, framed the fee hike as a push for greater self-reliance. The logic: fewer engineers leaving for Silicon Valley could mean more talent powering domestic startups, AI labs and homegrown unicorns. India already produces more than 1.5 million engineering graduates annually, ranking it as the world’s second-largest tech hub. 

Yet optimism is tempered by reality. Wages for Indian tech professionals remain a fraction of US salaries, infrastructure bottlenecks persist, and venture funding has cooled. Without reforms to improve ease of doing business, expand R&D incentives, and strengthen capital markets, top talent may simply gravitate toward Canada, Europe, or Singapore. 

Who Uses H-1Bs 

Contrary to perception, US tech giants dominate the H-1B system. Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Google, Walmart and JPMorgan accounted for over 94 per cent of the 95,109 visas issued to the top 10 employers last year, while Indian firms remain significant players: TCS ranked second with 5,505 approvals, Infosys 13th with 2,004, LTI Mindtree with 1,844, and HCL America, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and L&T Technology Services filling out the remainder. 

Rethinking the Model 

The fee hike forces US multinationals to absorb higher costs, but Indian firms face a different calculus: whether to double down on offshore delivery from India instead of the traditional hybrid model of rotating engineers to US sites. Several executives have already briefed government officials about scaling back H-1B reliance and repatriating more work. 

The shift could accelerate India’s role as a global back office but also stress digital infrastructure. Cloud-based collaboration can handle routine coding, yet complex projects, such as modernising legacy banking software, still often demand engineers on site. 

Startups are another flashpoint. AI and fintech founders plotting US expansion now face sharply higher entry costs. Many are likely to keep product and engineering teams in Bengaluru or Hyderabad rather than Silicon Valley. While this strengthens India’s domestic ecosystem, it could slow global scale-up ambitions. 

The Long Game 

In the short term, the visa shock adds volatility to an industry already grappling with automation, slowing global demand, and pricing pressure. It may also cloud US–India trade talks, where tech services and workforce mobility remain sensitive. 

Over the longer horizon, whether India converts this disruption into a catalyst depends on how quickly it upgrades its innovation ecosystem, deepens venture markets, and retains top talent. Without that, the brightest engineers may leave for countries quicker to exploit the void left by Washington’s new fee wall. 

Either way, the $100,000 H-1B has signalled the end of cheap, abundant Indian talent powering US boardrooms.