Trump’s pro-business stance to boost IT: Wipro’s Rishad Premji

BENGALURU: Wipro chairman Rishad Premji is optimistic about the incoming Trump administration‘s pro-business stance, suggesting it would create favourable conditions for India’s $250-billion IT sector. “I certainly think that the current outcome is going to be more pro-business and pro-growth,” he said at the 27th edition of the Bengaluru Tech Summit held here on Tuesday.
“If you look at the last 25-30 years, the tech services model has survived and thrived. It has survived and thrived regardless of the political party in power or the administration that was formed. There is some amount of political rhetoric that is imposed in any election. But I think the model is quite strong and sustainable irrespective of what the government is in power. The conversation we’re having on fewer taxes and less regulation, I think, will be incredibly powerful. So, I’m quite hopeful, but we’ve also got to be watchful about the inflationary pressure,” Premji said.
Industry observers suggest that a potential second Trump presidency would likely have contrasting immigration policies. While taking strict measures against unauthorised border crossings, he would implement robust controls on employment-based visas. Indian IT firms are the largest users of H-1B visas and non-immigrant visas that allow US firms to temporarily employ foreign workers. But in recent times, Indian IT companies have hired more locals and reduced their visa dependency significantly.
Premji has emphasised that although it is essential to consider safeguards against geopolitical risks. However, he said that the IT services continue to survive and thrive despite the geopolitical uncertainty.

“The world is deeply interconnected, and I think being able to undo that is not going to be easier. So how do we find ways to work in a manner where we derisk by creating more optionality? So, you can’t be one country dependent or one supply chain dependent, but you create more opportunities. And you see India being a huge beneficiary of some of that, especially on the manufacturing side,” Premji said.
Premji lauded how digital public infrastructure democratised access to technology and created a level-playing field. He also spoke about leveraging data in education and healthcare for ecosystem growth. “I think this is a huge opportunity. Like we’ve done with the whole digital public infrastructure space, we created the infrastructure and then unleashed the potential of that into the ecosystem. If we can do similar things with the kinds of datasets we have in areas like education and healthcare, and then allow the ecosystem to leverage that and build the relevant use cases on top, it can be tremendously powerful.”